Static properties of polystyrene in semidilute solutions: A comparison of Monte Carlo simulation and small-angle neutron scattering results

Monte Carlo simulations have been performed on a meso-scale polymer model f or semiflexible chains and effective polymer-polymer interactions. Simulati ons were made for different chain lengths at dilute and semidilute concentr ations, The correlation length and osmotic compressibility have been determ ined for the simulations as well as experimentally for polystyrene in d-tol uene by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and excellent agreement is f ound. Interpolations of the MC scattering functions fit the SANS data in th e full measured range of scattering vectors, demonstrating agreement almost down to atomic level.