ABSTRACT
Soluble salts, metals, metal alloys, and polymers, form dilute solutions on the molecular level with appropriate solvents but the distinguishing difference between polymers and the other materials is that the size of the polymer molecule is exceedingly large compared to simple atomic species. As such, the properties of very dilute polymer solutions are determined by the conformational state of the separate polymer molecules. However, the same fimdamental thermodynamic considerations that apply to polymer solutions also apply to metal solid solutions (alloys) and will be treated in greater detail in Chapter 2 1.
