Vibrational Spectroscopy of Polymers

This article presents various applications of vibrational spectroscopy for analysis of polymer structure. The relative merits of vibrational spectroscopy versus other techniques for characterization of polymer structure are discussed. Special emphasis is given to analysis of chain configuration, conformation, interchain interactions, phase separation behavior, green polymers, crystallization behavior, and crystalline region size. Experimental data combined with data provided by normal coordinate analysis were utilized in analysis of spectroscopic features associated with disordered chains. Specialized topics such as amount of free volume, phase transformation, microspectroscopy, segmental orientation, and surface analysis are presented.