Product Design and Analysis

While many chemical engineers work in process engineering, the interdisciplinary nature of chemical engineering is applicable to product development and design where between 30 % to 50% of chemical engineers work in product development depending on the country. The types of products can be quite diverse in nature, ranging from sunscreens, shampoo, pharmaceuticals or mass-produced ice-cream to more device-oriented products such as energy storage devices ( e.g., super-capacitors, graphene based materials), drug delivery materials ( e.g. polymer particles, capsules or hydrogels), tissue engineered materials or even kidney dialysis units. In practice, chemical engineers work with other engineers ( e.g., materials, biomedical, mechanical) in product design in a range of industrial sectors including foods, cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, 2D materials, veterinary and agricultural sciences, minerals purification, biochemical processing and biomedical engineering. This subject allows students to better understand product design by learning about the unifying fundamental structure-function relationships and material properties found in these complex products. Students will learn how to use >a basic knowledge of interfacial phenomena to see how products or devices are designed, manufactured and analysed. In addition, students will be introduced to the key stages of product development, the importance of the needs and specifications of the target users and customers and decision gating processes involved in getting a product from an idea to market. Students will also learn about some of the instruments used in industry for analysis of products, from the basics to state-of-the-art. Students will be able to use the information from the lectures and tutorials to focus on an area of interest to explore how a product or device was discovered, developed, designed delivered for a set of users or customers. They will also be able to present this information to a broader audience.

• 1Describe and analyse the flow behaviour of particulate materials and the influence of surface chemistry, additives and processing history on the behaviour of fine solid and liquid particle slurries
• 2Connect the structure-function relationships based in interfacial phenomena to product material properties as well as formulation and device design.
• 3Apply the physical concepts of interfacial phenomena to processes, products and devices in the minerals, ceramics, pigment, food, personal care products, biomedical device and pharmaceuticals industries.
• 4Apply these concepts to the manufacture and characterisation of products and related soft materials.