A THEORY FOR COMPRESSIBLE BINARY LATTICE POLYMERS - INFLUENCE OF CHAIN CONFORMATIONAL PROPERTIES

The influence of long-range chain connectivity on the thermodynamic pr operties of athermal compressible single component and binary polymer mixtures is studied for the lattice model both theoretically and by Mo nte Carlo simulations. Theoretical expressions for the thermodynamic p roperties are derived based on the chain insertion probabilities. The chain conformations enter the theoretical insertion probabilities by t he number of intramolecular contacts. The distribution of the number o f intramolecular contacts of a single athermal chain is taken as input , of which the dependence on density is predicted by the theory. The t heory successfully predicts the Monte Carlo simulation data for the eq uation of state of pure components and mixtures. Also microscopic deta ils on the different types of self-contacts and cross contacts in the mixtures are accurately predicted. (C) 1998 American Institute of Phys ics. [S0021-9606(98)52535-4]