Dear Colleagues,

Synthetic polymers, often called plastics, find frequent application in many engineering fields. Thermosets, thermoplastics, elastomers, with or without fiber or particle reinforcement, are applied in a multitude of different composite elements. In 3-D printer thermoplastics are used extensively for prototyping. Fiber reinforces epoxy composites are used nearly everywhere, from race cars to laptops. Adhesive glues are commonly used in structural engineering applications during the construction of new structures, but also structural repair and strengthening like surface-mounted laminates and post-installed anchors.

Countless applications exploit these man-made polymers. Their investigation needs joint forces of material scientists, chemists, physicists and engineers. Characterization of them depends on the level of complexity. We concentrate on continuum mechanics, discrete element analysis, and plastics' experimental investigations, combining the material and structural scales in this special issue. Research topics of relevance should focus on

• Experimental work on the thermo-mechano-chemical response
• Determining material parameters via inverse analysis
• Computational modeling of polymers
• Modeling response of composite structural elements
• Validation of computational results by experiments

The special issue “Man-made polymers and their characterization, modeling, simulation in engineering” addresses recent developments concerning the characterization and modeling of synthetic polymers in typical engineering applications. The topics of interest span the fields of classical material sciences but also applications to structural components and include, but are not limited to, Material characterization, Material modeling, Inverse analysis, Monitoring and Updating, Rheology, Damage mechanics, Hardening, Creep, Fatigue, Thermo-mechanics, Migration, Degradation, Computation, Numerical methods, Process simulation, Hybrid systems, Smart materials and 3-D printing.

Prof. Dr. Roman Wan-Wendner
Prof. Dr. Jan Vorel
Prof. Dr. Bilen Emek Abali
Guest Editors

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