Polymers have unique flow properties, displaying behaviours between solids and liquids, due to their broad distribution of relaxation times. This makes them very interesting for applications and everyone of us uses polymer products, e.g. plastics or rubber, in our everyday life. The viscoelastic properties are connected to the microscopic structure and dynamics of the constituents which can be revealed by neutron scattering methods.

The solid-liquid/polymer boundary condition, e.g. relevant for polymer extrusion, as well as the single chain dynamics and possible topological phase transitions are studied by neutron scattering methods in the group of Max Wolff at Uppsala University:
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The liquid to solid phase transition in polymeric microspheres was studied using a combination of SAXS and SANS. These information is important for understanding the role of softness on the crystallisation process of such microspheres. This study comes from a collaboration betwen Judith Houston at the European Spallation Source and Andrea Scotti at Archen Univeristy.:
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A new method to quantify the softness of soft materials, studied by Dr Judith Houston from the European Spallation Source, Lund.
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