Structural Modelling of Polymer Properties

Abstract

It is a favourite and frequently performed exercise for scientists interested in the behaviour of real materials, to imagine and to construct hypothetical, more or less elaborate structural models whose properties may be readily described in terms of a limited number of characteristic parameters. Comparison of the observed properties of the real material with those of the structural model is supposed then to allow certain conclusions about the degree of relevancy of the chosen model in particular when the observed properties are shown to be in fair agreement with the ones calculated from the model. It should be borne in mind, however, that quite different theoretical models may exhibit similar or even identical behaviour depending on the selected parameter values, from which we may conclude that coincidence between observed and calculated properties does not necessarily imply that the essential features of the structural model bear close resemblance to those of the real material. The latter conclusion is corroborated by the well known observation that two real materials of very different structure may show similar or identical properties under appropriate conditions, which may or may not be the same for both materials.