Synthetic polymers amorphous

Similar effects are seen with synthetic polymers. Amorphous polymers are substances without any crystallinity and are often soluble in at least a few solvents. Most crystalline polymers resist dissolving in common solvents. Some can be dissolved, but often with difficulty. If they do dissolve, it is usually in a strong solvent and often after being heated. 

Unlike other synthetic polymers, PVDF has a wealth of polymorphs at least four chain conformations are known and a fifth has been suggested (119). The four known distinct forms or phases are alpha (II), beta (I), gamma (III), and delta (IV). The most common a-phase is the trans-gauche (tgtg ) chain conformation placing hydrogen and fluorine atoms alternately on each side of the chain (120,121). It forms during polymerization and crystallizes from the melt at all temperatures (122,123). The other forms have also been well characterized (124—128). The density of the a polymorph crystals is 1.92 g/cm and that of the P polymorph crystals 1.97 g/cm (129) the density of amorphous PVDF is 1.68 g/cm (130). 

The reinforcing filler usually takes the form of fibres but particles (for example glass spheres) are also used. A wide range of amorphous and crystalline materials can be used as reinforcing fibres. These include glass, carbon, boron, and silica. In recent years, fibres have been produced from synthetic polymers-for example, Kevlar fibres (from aromatic polyamides) and PET fibres. The stress-strain behaviour of some typical fibres is shown in Fig. 3.2. 

The infrared spectra of hevea (natural rubber), balata (or guttapercha), the latter both in the crystalline (a) and the amorphous forms, and of synthetic polyisoprene are compared in Fig. 32. The hevea and balata (amorphous) spectra offer calibrations for cfs-1,4 and irans-1,4 structures, respectively, in the synthetic polymer. Owing to the presence of the methyl substituent, however, the spectral difference between the as and trans forms is slight both absorb at about 840... 

Noncrystalline or amorphous materials produce patterns with only a few diffuse maxima, which may be either broad rings or arcs if the amorphous regions are partially oriented [3]. Synthetic polymers, which are branched or cross-linked, are usually amorphous, as are linear polymers with bulky side groups, which are not spaced in a stereoregular manner along the backbone [3]. 

PS polystyrene, oldest synthetic polymer, atactic, amorphous, clear and brittle. 

For pregelatinised starch or denatured proteins, no cooperative unfolding transitions are observed, and the systems are more similar to synthetic polymers. A similar plastic mass is formed, but in this case its formation is largely determined by the glass transition of the amorphous system and subsequent disruption of any hydrogen-bonded structures. This temperature depends primarily on moisture content, and the... 

A radius of gyration in general is the distance from the center of mass of a body at which the whole mass could be concentrated without changing its moment of rotational inertia about an axis through the center of mass. For a polymer chain, this is also the root-mean-square distance of the segments of the molecule from its center of mass. The radius of gyration is one measure of the size of the random coil shape which many synthetic polymers adopt in solution or in the amorphous bulk state. (The radius of gyration and other measures of macromolecular size and shape are considered in more detail in Chapter 4.)... 

In this chapter we study the characteristics that determine the crystallinity of polymers, crystalline morphology, and the factors affecting the crystallization and melting of polymers. We describe the amorphous state, focusing on the glass transition, a fundamental property for defining the mechanical behavior of polymers. The entire description refers exclusively to synthetic polymers. 

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