A light‐scattering study of low pressure polyethylene fractions

Low pressure polyethylene fractions of molecular weight above 100,000 have been studied by the light scattering method. The presence of long chain branches in fractions of molecular weight above 300,000 was indicated by the data. The molecular weight‐intrinsic viscosity relationship for linear polyethylene chains was found to be [η] = 4.60 × 10⁻⁴ M^0.725 when tetralin at 130°C. was used as the solvent for the intrinsic viscosity measurements. This relationship gives molecular weights about 1.15 times higher than those found previously by the number‐average molecular weight determination of the fractions.