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Polymers and the Theory of Numbers: Molecular Weight Distributions from Rheological Measurements

Abstract

RECENTLY, V. S. Nanda and R. K. Pathria have shown how certain problems from the theory of numbers may be applied to the theory of polymer degradation1. Their work appears to be one of the very few applications of the theory of numbers to physical or chemical problems. We wish to report a new application of another classical theorem of the theory of numbers to yet another problem in the field of polymer physical chemistry. By the use of this theorem, it appears to be possible to obtain the molecular weight distribution of a polymer sample from rheological measurements.

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References

  1. Nanda, V. S., and Pathria, R. K., J. Chem. Phys., 30, 27 (1959).

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  2. Rouse, jun., P. E., J. Chem. Phys., 21, 1272 (1953).

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  3. Hirschman, I. I., and Widder, D. V., The Convolution Transform (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1955).

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MENEFEE, E., PETICOLAS, W. Polymers and the Theory of Numbers: Molecular Weight Distributions from Rheological Measurements. Nature 189, 745 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189745a0

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