Welcome to the Polymer Physics Laboratory at Rensselaer!
The Ryu research group, directed by Professor Chang Y. Ryu, is a research group working on polymer physics projects to enhance our molecular-level understandings on the physical and other properties of polymeric materials in the Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In particular, we are interesed in investigating the structure-property-relationships of polymeric materials, including block copolymers, polymer composites and sustainable polymers. One of our main research interests includes the development of the novel polymer separation techniques using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to explore its unique applications for the rigorous analysis and purification of chemically heterogeneous polymers, such as block copolymers. Other research tools for the polymer analysis and characterization include dynamic light scattering, rheology, small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and thermal analysis (DSC, TGA and DMA). We are also interested in studying the synthesis and properties of sustainable polymer materials obtained from the chemical modification of organics from renewable sources. Examples include the epoxy thermosets from vegetable oils for the fundamental studies of mechanical and thermophysical properties of thermoset polymers with crosslinked network structures.