The course deals with the study of those classes of materials which have registered an increasing interest in many industrial applications. In particular, polymeric composite materials will be deeply analyzed with peculiar attention to their application in automotive, aeronautic, aerospace and civil engineering applications. Then major coating systems and technologies will be presented in view of tribological, thermal barriers and functional (as TCO in electronic industries) applications.
In detail, the course will follow this scheme:

1.Composite materials:
polymeric matrix composite materials (PMC):
major types of matrix and reinforcements,
long short fibres and particle filled composites,
micromechanics of unidirectional and short fiber composites,
fundamentals of the theory of lamina and laminates,
fundamentals of nanocomposite materials.

2.Surface engineering:
Thermal spray processes (plasma spray, flame spray, arc spray, ecc.).
Physical vapour deposition techniques (PVD e CVD). Solg-gel processing. Basics of tribology.
Practical application of coatings: thermal barriers, transparent conductive coatings, wear protections, coatings to modify friction performance.

3.Elastomers:
Types of elastomers and fillers, elastomeric compounds, vulcanization, correlation between properties and tribological performance; industrial production of rubbers, methods of characterizazion.

4.Industrial Applciation of Polymers and Composites:
Rubbers, thermoplastic elastomers, technopolymers with particular focus on space, aeronautic, auto motive engineering, food packaging, sport and leisure time applications.