Interrelationships Between Molecular and Physical Structure in Amorphous Polymers

Abstract

X-ray scattering patterns of amorphous methacrylate polymers, copolymers of I Our, (methyl methacrylate) with poly(methyl acrylate) and with poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate), and t-butyl-substituted styrene polymers have been obtained. All show one or more scattering peaks at spacings greater than that of the van der Waals packing of atoms. The behavior of these aulks with change in chemical structure is in accord with our earlier studies of acrylate and methacrylate polymers and supports the conclusion that the scattering patterns indicate the existence of a nonvanishing degree of local order in amorphous polymers as normally encountered.