ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various methods for classifying polymers and presents the basic concepts regarding the molecular weight distribution, mechanism of polymerization, molecular conformation, configuration, and crystallinity. In order to form polymers, monomers either have reactive functional groups or double bonds whose reaction provides the necessary linkages between repeat units. A more important classification of polymers is based on molecular structure. According to the system, the polymer could be one of the linear-chain polymer, branched-chain polymer and network or gel polymer. Branched polymers contain molecules having a linear backbone with branches emanating randomly from it. As expected, the architectural features and the distribution of molecular weight play an important role in determining the physical properties of polymers. In addition, the geometric details of how each repeat unit adds to the growing chain is an important factor in determining the properties of a polymer.
