Preface

Summary

There are already a fairly large number of textbooks on various aspects of polymers and, more specifically, on polymer physics, so why another? While presenting a short series of undergraduate lectures on polymer physics at the University of Leeds over a number of years I found it difficult to recommend a suitable textbook. There were books that had chapters appropriate to some of the topics being covered, but it was difficult to find suitable material at the right level for others. In fact most of the textbooks available both then and now seem to me more suitable for postgraduate students than for undergraduates. This book is definitely for undergraduates, though some students will still find parts of it quite demanding.

In writing any book it is, of course, necessary to be selective. The criteria for inclusion of material in an undergraduate text are, I believe, its importance within the overall field covered, its generally non-controversial nature and, as already indicated, its difficulty. All of these are somewhat subjective, because assessing the importance of material tends to be tainted by the author's own interests and opinions. I have simply tried to cover the field of solid polymers widely in a book of reasonable length, but some topics that others would have included are inevitably omitted. As for material being non-controversial, I have given only rather brief mentions of ideas and theoretical models that have not gained general acceptance or regarding which there is still much debate.