Polymer, Vol.38, No.1, 9-13, 1997
Novel Analysis of Static Light-Scattering Data
A novel analysis was carried out for static light scattering data to determine the molecular weight, M, and mean square radius of gyration [s(2)] of large molecular weight polymers. The analysis is based on the finding that the Debye scattering function P(x) for random flight polymer chains with x = (4 pi n/lambda)(2) [s(2)] sin(2)(theta/2) can be numerically approximated by the single term (1 + x/3a)(-a) with the exponent a near 1.5, where lambda/n is the wavelength of incident light in medium and theta is the scattering angle. The ratio (1 + x/3a)/P(x)(-1/a) changes slowly between 0.986 and 1.014 in the range x < 8.6 for a = 1.5 and between 0.972 and 1.028 in x < 14.5 for a = 1.4. The plots of P(theta)(-1/a) vs sin(2) (theta/2) with a = 1.4 and 1.5 were applied successfully to various light scattering data on polymers of large molecular weight more than several million yielding the intercept of unity and correct values of [s(2)].