modified iSAFT to tethered polymers.
In these chapters, modified iSAFT is formulated only for linear polymer chains.
Polymer chain architecture plays an important role in determining the structural
and thermodynamic properties of inhomogeneous polymer systems. For different
architectures such as linear and branched, different structures and properties are
expected. Chapter 7 extends modified iSAFT to branched polymer chains. To test
the theory, it is applied to star-like branched polymers and again, the results are
compared with the available simulation results.
As mentioned earlier, self consistent field theory (SCFT) is another approach that
has been applied to inhomogeneous polymer systems. Chapter 8 presents a brief
review of SCFT and discusses its merits and drawbacks in comparison to modified
iSAFT.
Chapter 9 summarizes this dissertation and outlines some of the future directions
that can be taken in terms of further development and/or applications of modified
iSAFT.
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