Fracture of Polymers

Title: Fracture of Polymers
Date: 25th November, 2004
Meeting Venue: The Institute of Physics, London [location]

Meeting aims

The aim of the meeting is to bring together current fracture studies for various polymeric materials. Contributions on fundamental aspects of fracture or the application of fundamental understanding to service behaviour will be welcomed. If there is sufficient interest, a poster session will be held for which any paper on polymer fracture falling within the scope and aims will be considered.

Organised by

• The Polymer Physics Group of the Institute of Physics, The Royal Society of Chemistry and The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and
• The Rubber in Engineering Group of The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

  Graham Lake: gjlake@lla.co.uk
  James Busfield: j.busfield@qmul.ac.uk

Programme

10.30 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

11.00 SHORT REVIEWS : MECHANICS OF CUTTING OF RUBBER BY SHARP OBJECTS AND FATIGUE OF LAMINATED STRUCTURES
G J Lake (University of East London)

11.45 SOME ANOMALOUS FEATURES OF THE STRENGTH OF RUBBER
A N Gent (University of Akron, Ohio)

12.30 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF STEADY CRACK GROWTH RATES DURING TEARING AND FATIGUE TESTS ON ELASTOMER MATERIALS
Y Papdopoulos, J Busfield and A G Thomas (Queen Mary, University of London)

13.00 GENERAL DISCUSSION

13.15 LUNCH

14.30 DEGRADATION INDUCED FRACTURE OF POLYETHYLENE
L Castro-Diaz, D Vesely and R Matthews (Oxford University)

15.00 ACCELERATED LIFE FAILURES IN POLYMERIC MATERIALS
J P Dear (Imperial College)

15.30 THE IMPORTANCE OF UNOBSERVABLE CRACK GROWTH IN POLYMERIC PIPE
C C Lawrence and R Potter (University of East London)

16.00 DISCUSSION

16.15 TEA

16.30 MODELLING THE ABRASION PROCESS IN ELASTOMER MATERIALS
H Liang, J Busfield and A G Thomas (Queen Mary, University of London)

17.00 NEW METHOD FOR ASSESSMENT OF ADHESIVE BOND STRENGTH
A G Thomas, C C Lawrence and G J Lake (University of East London)

17.30 DISCUSSION

17.40 CLOSE

Fees

Conference Fees - the fees for the conference include refreshments and lunches, conference material, basic costs and administration charges.

The registration fees are as follows:

* Member Fee	£39.00
** Concessionary/Retired Member Fee	£19.00
*** Non-Member	£62.00

* Members of the Institute of Physics
The member rate is available to:
*All members of the Institute of Physics including those whose application is pending
* Staff at Institute Affiliated Plus Schools
* Members of Co-Sponsoring Institute and Societies
* Members of other Physics societies which have a Companion Society or other collaboration agreement with the Institute of Physics
* Members of the Business Partners Network

** Concessionary Rate
The concessionary rate is available to student members, those on career breaks or on low income and retired members.

*** Non-Members
Registrants paying this fee will automatically become Affiliates of the Institute of Physics for 12 months (this offer does include Physics World). As an affiliate you will be entitled to attend all conferences at the member rate for the year and join one technical or professional group at no charge. Membership of the Institute of Physics is open to all who have an interest in physics, for further information please visit http://about.iop.org/IOP/Benefits or contact membership@iop.org.

On-line registration by debit/credit card is available here. Please note that on-line registrations will only be accepted if accompanied by a valid credit of debit card; all payments will be processed securely using World Pay. Confirmation of payment will be sent to you by email once the transaction has been completed.

If you are unable to pay by debit/credit card, you can download a PDF Registration Form here. Please mail your registration form together with the remittance fees to the Registrations Department, Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT, UK. Please note that unless payment is received prior to the meeting your registration will not be guaranteed.

You are strongly advised to register as early as possible.

Value Added Tax
- Charges shown in this document are exempt from VAT unless otherwise indicated.

Payments of Fees
- All payments due must accompany the registration form or evidence must be given that payment has been initiated by one of the methods listed below. Methods of payments are:

a) Cheque, bank draft made payable to the Institute of Physics in either Euros (rate of 1.43) or Sterling.

b) By bank transfer direct to the Institute of Physics bank, Lloyds TSB Bank plc; Knightsbridge, 79 Brompton Road, London SW3 (Sort Code 30-94-81, Account No.0253575). Please quote the name of the applicant and the conference code number 218. (Please supply copy instruction)

c) By Access/Master/AMEX or Barclay/Visa Credit Card.

Applications received without payment or details of how payment will be made (a,b,c above) will not be accepted.

Confirmation of Booking
- Please note that payment must be received prior to the conference to guarantee your booking. Confirmation of your registration will be sent by the conference office within ten days of registering. A letter confirming your registration will be sent by the conference office within ten days of registering. If payment has not been enclosed with your registration form, you will be sent a pro-forma invoice which must be paid prior to the conference. For all enquiries about your booking or payment, please contact registrations@iop.org

Cancellations
- No payment can be refunded to those cancelling after 19 November 2004.

Late Registrations
- Applications received on or after 19 November 2004 will be treated as on-site registrations.

Conference Organiser:

Belinda Hopley
Institute of Physics
76 Portland Place
London W1B 1NT
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7470 4800
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7470 4900
Email: belinda.hopley@iop.org