Conformation of Polymer Chain in the Bulk

Abstract

Neutron coherent scattering techniques have been used for the determination of the conformation of polymer in bulk and experimental details are given about the application of this method to the study of polymeric systems. Measurements have been made for small and intermediate momentum ranges on a series of eight monodisperse deuterated polystyrenes of molecular weight ranging from 21,000 to 1,100,000. The results lead to the concluson that in amorphous state the conformation of the polymer molecule is indistinguishable from that in θsolvent and that the Debye scattering function which is valid for unperturbed chains applies for q^–1 as low as 10 Å.