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Diffusion

· Polymeric materials may have very large molecular weights compared to other solids.
· Small impurity atoms may diffuse in polymers in the manner discussed previously.
· Self diffusion of the large molecules involves moving the molecule through a crystalline or amorphous matrix of other large molecules.
· In the "Reptation" model of this macro-molecular transport, the moving molecule translates as a unit through an imaginary tube defined by neighboring chains. As the molecule moves the conformation of the tube changes.

From: Cotterill, "The Cambridge Guide to the Material World." Cambridge (1989)