SCALING ANALYSIS OF THE TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF INTRINSIC-VISCOSITY

The scaling predictions for the temperature dependence of the intrinsi c viscosity of flexible polymers are briefly reviewed. When the predic tions are fit to a power law over a fixed range of chain length, a rel ation between the exponent and prefactor of the Mark-Houwink-Sakurada equation emerges. In comparing with the experimental data compilation of Rai and Rosen, we conclude that real polymer systems are nowhere ne ar the true good solvent limit, even when the exponent matches the goo d solvent prediction. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.