Abstract
The conformational free energy of ring polymers in a blend of ring and linear polymers is investigated using the bond-fluctuation model. Previously established scaling relationships for the free energy of a ring polymer are shown to be valid only in the mean-field sense, and alternative functional forms are investigated. It is shown that it may be difficult to accurately express the total free energy of a ring polymer by a simple scaling argument, or in closed form.
4 More- Received 23 July 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.041806
©2009 American Physical Society