Light Scattering and Hydrodynamic Properties of Polymer Chains with Excluded Volume Effects

Abstract

This paper considers the implications of the Domb–Gillis–Wilmers distribution function PN(R) = CNRδexp−(R / σ)δ for end-to-end distances R in polymer chains of N segments with excluded volume effects. CN is a normalizing constant; ε is related to the standard deviation of R; and, according to Fisher, δ = 2 / (1 − ε), where ε is defined by 〈R2〉 = b2N1+ε for polymers with step length b. We have calculated the angular dependence of light scattering, the translational frictional coefficient and intrinsic viscosity, and the dimensional statistics of cyclic chains. Comparison has been made with a previously used distribution function which took excluded volume effects into account in a less well-founded way. The present distribution function gives properties which differ measurably from those obtained with the previous one, reflecting the greater average expansion of the chain implied by the distribution proposed by Domb et al.