Regularities in x-ray scattering patterns from amorphous polymers
- Journal of Polymer Science. Part A-2, Polymer physics, 22(12), p.2043-2050, 1984 .
It is known that the x-ray scattering pattern of an amorphous polymer may contain one or more halos corresponding to van der Waals spacings or larger. In this work we found that (i)the halo positions (and equivalent Bragg spacings)vary systematically with the cross-sectional area of the polymer chain in the crystal and (ii)there are at least two families of such halos with spacings larger than that of van der Waals contacts of atoms. From the wide variety and nature of the polymers considered, this behavior is believed to be representative of the amorphous state existing in polymeric samples. This work indicates that there is a degree of packing regularity in amorphous polymers that should be considered in models and theories of polymer chain conformation.