Morphology and motion

These questions are the basis of polymer morphology, which may be defined as the study of the structure and relationships of polymer chains on a scale large compared with that of the individual repeat unit or the unit cell, i.e. on the scale at which the polymer chains are often represented simply by lines to indicate the path of the backbone through various structures. In addition to the four questions above, morphology is concerned with such matters as the directions of the chain axes with respect to the crystallite faces and with the relationship between the crystallites and the non-crystalline material, a particular aspect of which is the nature of the crystalline-amorphous interface. Sections 5.2-5.5 are concerned 

The morphology of a polymer plays an important role in determining its properties, but the molecular motions that take place within the polymer play an equally important role. The later part of this chapter deals with the types of motion that can take place in solid polymers and the evidence for these motions. This topic of motion is taken up again in subsequent chapters, particularly in chapters 7 and 9, where the effects of motion on the mechanical and dielectric properties of solid polymers are discussed. 

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Early evidence for this idea was provided by Schmitt and Ache (1979), who found that the response to changes in odor concentration by olfactory receptor neurons in lobster antennules was enhanced if the antennule flicked. The idea that this enhanced response was due to improved water flow into the aesthetasc array was supported by Moore et al. (1991), who found that when they squirted water onto lobster antennules (to mimic flicking), the penetration into the aesthetasc array of tracer molecules carried in the water was increased. How does water flow through an aesthetasc array during a flick, and how does it depend on antennule morphology and motion ... 

A. Jones, Clark University, Massachusetts Is the dominant effect on T2 morphological and the dynamics of low frequency motions somewhat difficult to extract from T2 ... 

In summary, microscopic and thermal observations of PET samples coalesced from their crystalline y-CD-IC suggest crystalline characters and melt-crystallized morphologies that are different from normal samples. After coalescence of their segregated, extended chains from the narrow channels of the crystalline inclusion complex formed with host y-CD, PET chains are much more readily crystalliz-able, and, locally, quickly form small, possibly chain-extended crystals. In addition, the noncrystalline regions of coalesced PET exhibit conformational and motional... 

Many poly(imide)s are insoluble in their processed form, either because of interchain charge-transfer interactions, or because of the presence of crosslinks in cured poly(imide) resins. The range of analytical techniques available to characterize processed poly(imide)s is therefore limited. NMR spectroscopy, and in particular solid-state NMR [1-3], has an important role to play in the determination of structure, conformation, morphology and molecular motion in poly(imide) materials. The aim of this chapter is first, to briefly summarize the various classes of poly(imide)s, second, to review the current literature on NMR of these materials and finally, to hopefully indicate where NMR spectroscopy will make further additions to the knowledge of the properties of poly(imide)s. 

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