• Simple introductive considerations on polymers, on Soft matter science & on Colloidal science ;
• Chain characteristics: molar masses; configurations and conformations ;
• States of matter (glass, crystal, rubber and melt) and phase transitions in polymers ;
• Thermodynamics: solution and mixing; rubber elasticity ;
• Main properties of polymeric materials (except mechanical properties, topic of a specific course): electrical, optical, thermal, and specific properties ;
• Main polymer processing techniques ;
• Description of macroscopic behavior, mesoscopic length scales, and atomic details ;
• This course will also present a general overview of soft matter and colloidal materials and of the concepts used to describe their properties.

Students should acquire a general overview on polymer science and polymeric materials and on the systems described by soft matter science as well as general concepts, mainly from statistical physics, used for their description.
Advantages and drawbacks of polymeric materials for a specific use as well as experimental techniques developed for the study of these systems will also be presented.