Practice Projects
Week 5: Progress Report
Materials Project Team

Where were we?

Decision time!

Weighed up pros and cons of the two choices

Thermally stable biopolymers

Pros

• More ethical applications
• Plentiful data
• Methods seem more modern

Cons

• Not much expert support
• Less sense of direction
• More complex domain space

High-entropy alloys (HEAs)

Pros

• More expert input
• Clearer direction for experiments

Cons

• Less data and code
• Not as ethical in applications
• Methods less exciting

Decided by a coin flip

Thermally stable biopolymers

Thermally stable biopolymers

Definitions

• Thermally stable -> Capable of resisting prolonged high temperatures with minimal degradation
• Polymer -> A substance composed of macromolecules, we are interested in plastic-like polymers
• Biopolymers -> Polymers made of natural / biodegradade materials that easily break down under certain conditions

Potential applications

What we’ve been up to

• Finished explorative literature review
• Created a guidance sheet on relevant chemistry knowledge
• Collected a set of datasets and code to explore
• Developed a rough timeline and set of deadlines for project planning
• Got further guidance on understanding graphs with Alex

Talk with Katie

• Found our specific application -> Food packaging
• Decided on properties of interest to predict on
• Restricted the scope of project outcome
• Validated project management approach
• Putting us in touch with her colleague Sandeep

Plan going forward

• Start simple and build up, consolidate chemistry knowledge
• Learn the intricacies of graphs networks
• Put together a user journey to fully inform business understanding
• Initially just model properties of interest, potentially expand to 3D structures
• Consulting experts when anticipating hurdles

Challenges

• Very open project in terms of direction
• Cannot independently model properties related to thermal stability, degradation is equally important
• Balancing time for other priorities

Any questions?