ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the properties of a typical member from each category and investigate the relationship between the molecular structure and the properties of that exemplar. It considers the polymers that are commonly used as biomaterials. The chapter describes the main features of the mechanical behavior of selected examples of such polymers, and examines the extent to which this behavior can be explained in terms of the molecular structure. There are many facets to the molecular structure of polymers. Having considered the structure of parts of a polymer molecule, the chapter considers the whole molecule. Commercial polymers fall into two main categories. The first is that of polydisperse linear polymers, considered, and the second is network molecules. For some of the polymers it is possible to calculate the Young's modulus from knowledge of the microstructure, but for others only upper and lower bounds can be set.
