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Polymers
Naturally occurring
Polymer Structures
ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
What are the general structural and chemical characteristics of polymer molecules?
What are some of the common polymeric materials, and how do they differ chemically?
How is the crystalline state in polymers different from that in metals and ceramics ?
Hydrocarbon molecules
Most polymers are organic in origin Many organic materials are hydrocarbons
Covalent bonds Each C has 4 electrons that may participate in covalent bonding Single electron pair sharing single bond
Polymer Composition
Saturated hydrocarbons Each carbon singly bonded to four other atoms Example: Ethane, C2H6
H C C
Unsaturated Hydrocarbons
Double & triple bonds somewhat unstable can form new bonds
H C C H
H H
H C C H
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Isomerism
Isomerism two compounds with same chemical formula can have quite different structures for example: C8H18
normal-octane
= H3C CH2 CH2 CH2 CH2 CH2 CH2 CH3
H H H H H H H H H C C C C C C C C H H H H H H H H H
2,4-dimethylhexane
CH3 H3C CH CH2 CH CH3 CH2 CH3
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Polymer Molecules
Much larger in comparison to the hydrocarbon molecules Macromolecules A chain of carbon atoms is the backbone Mer The repeating unit in a polymer chain Monomer a stable unit from which the polymer is synthesized
free radical
H H R C C H H
H H H H R C C C C H H H H
propagation
dimer
C O O C
=2R
C C
H H
Monomer
Types of Polymers
Homopolymer
All repeating units along a chain are of the same type; polymer formed from a single monomer Eg. polyethylene, formed by polymerization of ethylene 2 or more different mer units involved PMMA
Copolymer
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MOLECULAR WEIGHT
Large molecular weights for polymers with very long chains Molecular weight, M: Mass of a mole of chains.
Not all chains in a polymer are of the same length i.e., there is a distribution of molecular weights
Low M
high M
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Molecular weights
Mn = xi Mi
Mi represents mean (middle) molecular weight of size range i xi is the fraction of the total number of chains within the corresponding size range
Mw = wi Mi
Example
Example solution
Mol. Wt. range Mean Mi (g/mol) (g/mol) 5000 10,000 7500 10,000 15,000 12500 15,000 20,000 17500 20,000 25,000 22500 25,000 30,000 27500 30,000 35,000 32500 wi 0.12 0.18 0.26 0.21 0.14 0.09 = 1.0 wiMi 900 2250 4550 4725 3850 xi 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 xiMi 1500 1250 5250 2250 2750
Degree of Polymerization, DP
DP = average number of repeat units per chain
H H H H H H H H H H H H H C C (C C ) C C C C C C C C H H H H H H H H H H H H H
DP = 6
Mn DP = m
where m = average molecular weight of repeat unit for copolymers this is calculated as follows: m = Sfi mi
Chain fraction mol. wt of repeat unit i
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