Analytical representation of bimodality in bivariate distribution of chain length and chemical composition of copolymers

Abstract Tuning the bimodality of microstructural features in polymers has provided novel properties and applications. A classic example is to overcome the trade-off between processability and mechanical properties in polyolefins. A recent example is to decrease the interfacial tension in blending incompatible polymers. Therefore, the development of a bimodality index (BI), especially for the chain length distribution (CLD) and the chemical composition distribution (CCD), is crucial for the quantitative design of materials. This study introduces quantitative expressions for the bimodality of univariate CLD on the linear scale, and CCD. Moreover, we develop a bimodality criterion for bivaria…