Polymer Physics Part 1: Questions for the intermediate exam

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Discuss specific properties of polymeric materials that differ them from other materials. What is topology of macromolecules and topological restrictions? Show examples for polymers and how topology of macromolecules affect physical properties. What are the possible physical states of polymeric materials (1, 2 and 3 component systems)? Why cannot atactic polystyrene crystallize? What are anisotropic polymeric liquids? How the liquid-crystalline phase is formed? What makes the polymeric fibers strong? Show that using the stress vs. strain curve for noncrystalline plastics. What phases may exist in polymer blends and in block-copolymer blends? What types of polymer solutions do you know in respect to the polymer mass fraction in solution? How the flexibility of a chain can be defined? What limits flexibility of polymer chains, i.e. why there are rigid polymers? Describe two main flexibility mechanisms of polymer chains. How intramolecular H-bonding affects the rigidity of a polymer chain? What are the rotational isomers? How the flexibility and conformation of a macromolecule are related to each other? What typical conformations a homopolymer may adopt in a dilute solution? What are the main factors affecting the conformation of a single chain in solution? Discuss possible conformations of a copolymer chain in solution. Explain briefly the difference between the concepts of configuration and conformation. What ideal chain models do you know? Why they are called ideal? What makes an ideal chain not ideal? Why an ideal polymer chain is called Gaussian? Show examples and appropriate graphs. Describe the freely-jointed model of a macromolecule. Define the end-to-end distance, the chain length, and the counter length of a chain. How Brownian motion can be applied to study the shape of a macromolecule? What is Brownian motion and how it is related to the diffusion of macromolecules in dilute solutions? What are the statistical Kuhn segment and the persistent length? How they are related to each other? What is the worm-like chain model? In which cases this model can be applied? Define the radius of gyration of a homopolymer and of a copolymer? How it is related to the end-toend distance? How to estimate the density of polymeric material within a macromolecule? How density is related to the degree of polymerization? How the density is related to the overlap concentration? Prove mathematically by any way that the size of a macromolecule is proportional to degree of polymerization N. Define the terms: Youngs modulus, chain entanglements, and glass-rubber transition. Define the terms: elastic deformation, elastic force, plastic deformation, stress, and strain. Draw a log modulus-temperature plot for an amorphous polymer. Where do the five regions of viscoelasticity fit? What is the origin of elasticity of a solid crystal and of an elastic polymeric material? Many rubber materials exhibit time dependence of their mechanical properties. Thus stress decreases in the continuous stress-relaxation process. Make a list of possible reasons. How crosslinks affect elasticity of polymer? Why a subchain of an elastic polymer network can be considered as an ideal chain? Why an ideal chain is similar to an ideal gas? What if the molecules of ideal gas have size and mass, will you still call such gas ideal? Why? What is the Boltzmans Principle? How it is related to entropy? Describe the physical meaning of kT energy as the amplitude of thermal oscillations. Describe evolution of the system from a less to a more probable state. Show that S=klnW. Derive the change in entropy of a network and stress in case of uniaxial elongation/compression. When you stretch an elastic material, does it cool down or warms up? Explain. Describe the Gush-Joule effect. What is the Youngs modulus of a polymer network? How it is related to the crosslink density?

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