Premium
Using the optical microscope to characterize molecular ordering in polymers
Author(s) -
Viney C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760261502
Subject(s) - terminology , interpretation (philosophy) , birefringence , subject (documents) , anisotropy , optical microscope , materials science , optical anisotropy , computer science , nanotechnology , optics , physics , philosophy , library science , linguistics , programming language , scanning electron microscope
This review aims to encompass various situations where optical microscopy—particularly observation and measurement of birefringence—can be used to deduce the nature of intermolecular correlations in polymers. The necessary background dealing with light propagation in anisotropic media is summarized in practical terms. The review is especially concerned with illustrating how unjustified assumptions and ambiguous terminology can cause erroneous interpretation of results. Many references cited are themselves reviews or even textbooks; they afford detailed access to the wide and diffuse literature that full coverage of this subject demands, but would constitute an unwieldly bibliography if listed as individual publications.