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CONTINUUM MECHANICS for ENGINEERS

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FIGURE 8.2<br />

A schematic comparison of molecular con<strong>for</strong>mations as the distance between molecule’s ends<br />

varies. Dashed lines indicated other possible con<strong>for</strong>mations.<br />

instance, a cubic meter of an amorphous polymer having 10,000 carbon<br />

atoms per molecule would have on the order of 1024 molecules (McCrum<br />

et al., 1997). Clearly, the sample is large enough to justify a statistical<br />

approach.<br />

At this point, consider one particular molecule, or polymer chain, and its<br />

con<strong>for</strong>mations. The number of different con<strong>for</strong>mations the chain can obtain<br />

depends on the distance separating the chain’s ends. If a molecule is <strong>for</strong>med<br />

of n segments each having length l , the total length would be L = n l .<br />

Separating the molecule’s ends, the length L would mean there is only one<br />

possible con<strong>for</strong>mation keeping the chain intact. As the molecule’s ends get<br />

closer together, there are more possible con<strong>for</strong>mations that can be obtained.<br />

Thus, a Gaussian distribution of con<strong>for</strong>mations as a function of the distance<br />

between chain ends is appropriate. Figure 8.2 demonstrates how more con<strong>for</strong>mations<br />

are possible as the distance between the molecule’s ends is<br />

reduced.<br />

Molecule end-to-end distance, r, is found by adding up all the segment<br />

lengths, l as is shown in Figure 8.3. Adding the segment lengths algebra-<br />

ically gives distance r from end-to-end, but it does not give an indication of<br />

the length of the chain. If the ends are relatively close and the molecule is<br />

long there will be the possibility of many con<strong>for</strong>mations. Forming the magnitude<br />

squared of the end-to-end vector, r, in terms of the vector addition of<br />

individual segments<br />

r<br />

2<br />

= r⋅ r = ⎛l<br />

+ l + L+ l ⎞ ⋅ ⎛l<br />

+ l + L+ l ⎞<br />

⎝ ~ 1 ~ 2 ~ n⎠⎝~ 1 ~ 2 ~ n⎠<br />

(8.1-1)<br />

where is the vector defining the ith l segment of the molecule chain. Mul-<br />

~i<br />

tiplying out the right-hand side of Eq 8.1-1 leads to<br />

2 2<br />

r = nl + ⎡l<br />

⋅ l + l ⋅ l + L+ l ⋅l<br />

⎤<br />

~ 1 ~ 2 ~ 1 ~ 3 ~ n−1 ~<br />

⎣⎢<br />

n⎦⎥<br />

(8.1-2)<br />

This would be the square of the end-to-end vectors <strong>for</strong> one molecule of the<br />

polymer. In a representative volume of the material there would be many<br />

chains from which we may <strong>for</strong>m the mean square end-to-end distance

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