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Science 21 April 1995:
Vol. 268. no. 5209, pp. 395 - 397
DOI: 10.1126/science.268.5209.395
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Articles

The Collapse of Free Polymer Chains in a Network

Robert M. Briber 1, Xiaodu Liu 1, and Barry J. Bauer 2

1 Department of Materials and Nuclear Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
2 Polymers Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.

The conformation of linear polymer chains trapped in a matrix of cross-linked polymer has been measured by neutron scattering. Three regimes were found depending on the length of the linear chain, Nl, with respect to the mesh size of the network, Nc. When Nc > Nl, the radius of gyration, Rg, of the linear chain is the same as that observed in the uncrosslinked melt. When Nc < Nl, Rg shrinks according to the scaling relation Rg–1 sim Nc–1 that has been predicted for isolated polymer chains trapped in a field of random obstacles. When Nc << Nl the linear chains are observed to segregate.

Submitted on November 10, 1994
Accepted on February 2, 1995


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Simulations of beta -hairpin folding confined to spherical pores using distributed computing.
D. K. Klimov, D. Newfield, and D. Thirumalai (2002)
PNAS 99, 8019-8024
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