MODELING THE INFLUENCE OF MONOMER PROPERTIES AN HYDROGEN-BOND DENSITYIN ORIENTED, RIGID COPOLYMER SYSTEMS

In many crystalline or highly oriented polymers, hydrogen bonds contri bute remarkably to the overall enthalpy of the system. The H-bond dens ity may be regulated by the use of statistical copolymers, in which di fferent monomer lengths modulate the distance between the localized H bonds. It has been shown that the interaction between monomer stiffnes s and the ratio of the monomer lengths is the most important contribut ory factor to the enthalpy. A simulation model has been developed and a quantitative rule for the dependence of the enthalpy on monomer stif fness and lengths was found. Owing to the complexity of the system, a direct quantitative simulation of macroscopic material properties on a molecular level is still not possible; however, the results presented here are helpful for the understanding and prediction of experimental results.