Concise Introduction to Polymer Physics

Reinhard Hentschke holds a Diplom from the University of Osnabrück (1983) and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maine, USA (1987). He acquired expertise relevant to the proposed book as a postdoc at Brandeis University, USA (1987-1990), working on the theory of reversibly assembling polymers, and as a staff scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (1990-1999), specializing on computer simulation of polymers. Since 1999 he is a professor of physics at the University of Wuppertal, where he had frequent polymer related collaborations with industry partners – most notably a collaboration, spanning 15 years, with the materials development department of the Continental Reifen GmbH. He is the (co)author of four textbooks: RH, Statistische Mechanik, Wiley-VCH, 2004; RH Thermodynamics, Springer, Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics, 2014 (1st ed.), 2022 (2nd ed.); RH, Classical Mechanics, Springer, Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics, 2017; RH, Christian Hölbling, A Short Course in General Relativity and Cosmology, Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics, 2020.

• Introduction.-  Polymers - Microstructure, Classification, and Mass.-  Equilibrium Conformation of Single Chains.-  Thermodynamics of Blends, Solutions, and Networks.-  Polymer Dynamics.- Selected Topics (Aspects of the Mechanics of Polymers, Filler Effects, Stable and Labile Liquid Crystalline Polymers, Polyelectrolytes).-  Appendix A: Phenomenological Models for Viscoelasticity.- B: Persistence Length from Fluctuation Theory.- C: Teaching and Studying the Material in these Notes.