Amit S. Kulkarni, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012 and Gregory Beaucage, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0012.
Small angle scattering of x-rays and neutrons can provide a powerful pathway to the deduction of the various topologies encountered in macromolecules. This new analytic approach developed by the authors results in key fundamental dimensions which can reflect the topology as well as thermodynamic equilibration achieved by the polymer structure. Analysis of various polymeric systems, like commercial polyolefins, cyclic polymers and model branched systems like hyper-branched and multi-arm star polymers will be presented.