Presents the methods used for characterization of polymers. In addition to theory and basic principles, the instrumentation and apparatus necessary for methods used to study the kinetic and thermodynamic interactions of a polymer with its environment are covered in detail. Some of the methods examined include polymer separations and characterization by size exclusion and high performance chromatography, inverse gas chromatography, osmometry, viscometry, ultracentrifugation, light scattering and spectroscopy.

Specialists in the field discuss the latest developments in particle size analysis, presenting an overview of state--of--the--art methodologies and data interpretation. Topics include commercial instrumentation, photon correlation spectroscopy, Fraunhofer Diffraction, field--flow fractionation, and detection systems for particle chromatography.