The configurational free energy of a polymer chain

✍ Scribed by Ganazzoli, Fabio ;Allegra, Giuseppe ;Colombo, Emanuele ;De Vitis, Mario

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1992
• Weight: 578 KB
• Volume: 1
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1018-5054
• DOI: 10.1002/mats.1992.040010504

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The configurational, or elastic, free energy A~el~ of a polymer chain is discussed in terms of the Fourier configurational approach. The importance of accounting for all degrees of freedom of the chain is shown in comparison with affine mean‐field theories and with scaling theories of chain expansion and contraction. In case of strong contraction the chain does show neither affinity nor self‐similarity, and we get A~el~ ∼ N^1/3^, N being the number of chain bonds. Conversely, in case of good‐solvent expansion we find A~el~ ∼ N. The same result holds in the vicinity of the Θ‐temperature, where A~el~ is also proportional to [(T − Θ)/T]^2^.