Eurheo

SECOND YEAR

The ISP is the main component of the Masters, its main objective being to give students a strong education in Rheology and its applications to Engineering problems in the various areas. This will be the first time that a set of European HEIs will have a common syllabus in Advanced Rheology. The ISP will have four main components:

The Common Branch Modules, CBMs,
The Advanced Topical Modules, ATMs
Complimentary Competences
The R&TD Final project.

I. CBM

It is crucial that, regardless of their particular area of expertise, professionals of Rheology have some degree of knowledge of the possibilities, challenges and tools available to their fellow rheologists in complimentary areas. Thus, the aim of the CBMs is to introduce the students to the main areas of application of Rheology: Materials Science and Engineering, Instrumentation and Experimental Rheology and Theoretical and Computational Rheology, regardless of their background and set the stage for the advanced topics to be taught later. There will be four modules, of which the students will have to choose 3, totaling 15 ECTS credits; this assumes that the education imparted during the PSP allows them to already have a high enough level of knowledge on one of the areas to allow them to be exempt from taking that Course. The four modules will be:

Materials Science: 5 ECTS.
Experimental Techniques: 5 ECTS.
Constitutive Modelling and Computational Rheology: 5 ECTS.
Rheology in Materials Engineering: 5 ECTS.

The CBMs will be lectured conventionally, i.e., in the format of conventional classroom lectures, at the University of Minho, in English, over a period of 8 weeks at the beginning of the second year.

Prerequisite knowledge for the Common Block Modules, in particular “Constitutive Modelling”.

A basic knowledge of continuum mechanics applied to fluids is highly advisable in order to fruitfully attend some of the common block courses, in particular “Constitutive Modelling”. The students should be familiar, at an introductory level, with the following concepts, either through their bachelor studies or additional personal study:

Basics of tensorial algebra and calculus : notion of second order tensor and representation in cartesian coordinates; algebraic and differential operations on second order tensors; invariants of second order tensors.
Basics of Newtonian fluid mechanics : conservation of mass and conservation of momentum equations; Newtonian constitutive equation; compressible and incompressible fluids; Navier-Stokes equation.
Moreover, some familiarity with the numerical simulation software Matlab, which is used in some parts of the course “Constitutive modelling”, is highly recommended.

References :

on continuum mechanics : a large number of excellent references is available in all university science libraries. Some of them are mentioned in the reference section of the Wikipedia article “continuum mechanics”. The book “Understanding Rheology” by Faith A. Morrison (Oxford University Press 2001) contains excellent chapters on tensor operations and Newtonian fluid mechanics.
on Matlab : tutorial documents can be consulted on the web site of Mathworks. Moreover, the following book can be freely downloaded from the web : http://www.intechweb.org/books/show/title/matlab---modelling--programming-and-simulations.

II. ATM

Once the basic education in Rheology has been completed, students will then take the Advanced Topical Modules, ATMs, which, as the name implies, will be devoted to the in depth study of particular areas of Rheology that are of specific interest to each individual student. The students will have to choose three ATMs, totaling 15 ECTS credits, from a list of possible subjects. The full list of optional ATMs, which are taught in English, and respective ECTS credits is the following:

Bio and Food Rheology: 5 ECTS.
Solid-State Rheology: 5 ECTS.
Complex Multiphase Systems: 5 ECTS.
Hydraulics and Industrial Fluids: 5 ECTS.
Complements of Materials Processing and Engineering: 5 ECTS.

The mobility scheme foresees the students moving from the first year host HEI to UMinho for the CBM and a third HEI for the ATM courses and the final R&TD project. Thus, the students will no longer be physically present at one location when they start the ATMs, implying that they will be taught at a distance, over the internet, using e-learning tools.

III. Final R&TD Project

The final Research & Technological Development Project, totaling 30 ECTS credits or one full semester of research, will be the culmination of the ISP. Through it the students will apply the good practices of scientific research, whether fundamental or applied, that they have learned during the curricular portion of the Masters and each individual project will be designed in such a way that it will force the students to integrate the entire body of knowledge they have acquired previously. An anticipated feature of the R&TD projects is that they will be developed as an integral part of the research activities of the various groups in the EURHEO Consortium and thus, each individual one will result in measurable outcomes, such as scientific papers, or in specific products for industry or academia, such as prototypes, new or improved materials and/or processes.

Some RT&D projects are now offered at the University of Minho which involve a partnership with where interships can be offered.

EURHEO Master Theses completed

Host Institution	Supervisor(s)	Thesis title
KUL	Prof. J. Vermant/ Prof. P. Moldenaers	"Determination of the high shear rate viscosity of structured detergents."
UCL	Prof. C. Bailly/ Dr. E. van Ruymbeke	"Comparative Studies on Tube Based Models for Rheological Predictions of Bidisperse Linear Polymers"
UHU	Dr. M.Delgado Canto/ Dr. C. Barragán	"Evaluation of the relationship between rheological and Tribological behaviour of biodegradable lubricating greases"
KUL	Prof. J. Vermant	"Rheology of concentrated surfacant formulations."
UHU	Prof. C. Gallegos/ Prof. P. Partal/ Prof. M. García-Morales	"Study of rheological behaviour of the polymer-modified bituminous mastics"
UCAL	Prof. B. de Cindio/ Dr. D. Gabriele	"Effect of Pectins Characterisics on Rheological Properties of Food Gels"
KUL	Prof. P. van Puyvelde	"Development of a rheological method to investigate processing of reactive flexible polyurethane foams."
ULJ	Prof. I. Emri	"Time-dependent properties of bimodal POM – application in powder injection molding”
UCL	Prof. C. Bailly	"Characterization and Properties of Polymer Nanocomposites based on Clay Nanoparticles"
ULJ	Prof. I. Emri	“Mechanical characterization of the viscoelastic material made of waste tyres”
UCAL	Prof. B. de Cindio/ Dr. D. Gabriele	"Rheological Characterization of Mixed Starch Gels"
UHU	Prof. F. J. Martínez Boza	"High Pressure Mixing Rheometry (Design of a New Rheometer for High Pressure Application"
UCL	Prof. C. Bailly/ Dr. E. van Ruymbeke	"Rheological modeling of silica filled polycarbonate nanocomposites"
UHU	Prof. C. Gallegos/FRENESIUS KABI DEUTSCHLAND GMBH	"Relationship among Rheological Properties, Microstructure and Processing of Enteral Formulations for Dysphagia Nutritional Support"
KUL	Prof. P. Moldenaers	"Pressure dependence of the viscosity of miscible polymer melts"
KUL	Prof. C. Clasen	"Determination of the finite extensibility of polymers in solution by using CaBER experimentation."
KUL	Prof. J. Vermant	"Interfacial rheology of methyl cellulose solutions "
UM	Prof. J.A. Covas/ Dr. L. Hilliou	"Filament Extrusion of Acetoxypropyl Cellulose (APC) Melt"
UHU	Prof. P. Partal/Dr. M. Garcia-Morales	“Plasticizer effect on a protein-starch based bioplastic system"
UM	Prof. F. Duarte/Dr. L. Hilliou	"Screening of Commercial Starches for Coating Application in Textile Printing"
ULJ	Prof. I. Emri/J. Gonzalez	"The effect of mechanical recycling on processability and durability of LDPE"
UCAL	Prof. B. de Cindio/Dr. D. Gabriele	Effects of the addition of High Methoxyl pectin on rheological properties of Low Methoxyl pectin gels
ULJ	P. I. Emri/Dr. B. Zupancic	"Non-isothermal crystallization of PA-6- the Effect of Bi-modality"
KUL	Prof. P. Moldenaers	"Effect of confinment on the break-up of Newtonian droplets with stepwise increase in shear rate."
UM	Prof. J.A. Covas/Dr. L. Hilliou	"Utilization of Birefringence and Dichroism for the In-line and Off-line Monitoring of Polymer Film Extrusion"
UM	Prof. M. Nobrega/Prof. S. Clain	"A Finite Volume Solver on Collocated Unstructured Grids to Model Flow of Newtonian Fluids"
UM	Prof. J.A. Covas/Prof. A.V. Machado	"Rheology as a Probe to Assess the Degradation of Ethylene Propylene Copolymers"
ULJ	Prof. I. Emri/Dr. M. Gergesova	"Evaluation of Closed Form Shifting Methodology"
UCL	Prof. C. Bailly	"Viscoelastic properties of branched poly(butyl-acrylates): influence of chain architecture on thermorheological complexity"
UCL	Prof. C. Bailly	"Metallo-supramolecular Networks Based on Functionalized Polyethylene oxide stars: Influence of Metal ion Stoichiometry on Linear Viscoelastic Properties"
UHU	Prof. J.M. Franco/Prof. M.A. Delgado	"Rheology and Tribology of Biolubricants and Greases"
KUL	Prof. J. Vermant/ Prof. P. Moldenaers	"Determination of the high shear rate viscosity of structured detergents."
UCL	Prof. C. Bailly/ Dr. E. van Ruymbeke	"Comparative Studies on Tube Based Models for Rheological Predictions of Bidisperse Linear Polymers"
UHU	Dr. M.Delgado Canto/ Dr. C. Barragán	"Evaluation of the relationship between rheological and Tribological behaviour of biodegradable lubricating greases"