Statistical theory and structure factor of a semidilute solution of rodlike macromolecules interacting by van der Waals forces

Abstract

The second and third virial coefficients are estimated for a semidilute suspension of macromolecular rods interacting by van der Waals forces. Whenever the attractive interaction becomes strong enough to be noticeable, it is no longer quantitatively correct to adopt a second virial approximation. Nevertheless, the statistical properties of the second virial fluid are investigated because it is a very convenient idealization of strongly interacting molecular fluids. Sufficient conditions for the local thermodynamic stability of the isotropic phase are set up. The coupling of orientational with translational degrees of freedom which arises from the anisotropic van der Waals interaction between two rods is particularly manifest in the structure factor. This is calculated analytically with the help of a variational theorem.