Monte Carlo studies of polymer chain dimensions in the melt

A Monte Carlo procedure for studying polymer chains in concentrated solution or in the melt is described. The procedure generates new configurations by breaking and reforming chains. The procedure is used to examine the dependence of the rms end-to-end distance on chain length for chains on a simple cubic three-dimensional lattice with every lattice site filled. Chains with as many as 512 segments were examined. The rms end-to-end distance is proportional to (N−1)ν for N the number of polymer segments and for ν in the range 0.51–0.52, rather than the expected value of 1/2. However, the data seem to indicate a continuing decrease of ν with increasing N so the value 1/2 cannot yet be ruled out.