| Citation | Dr Windle's central contribution to polymer science has been in the study of degrees of structural order intermediate between fully crystalline and amorphous (liquid-like). The hall-mark of his work has been innovative diffraction analysis closely coupled with the development of computer methods of molecular modelling. This approach confirmed the replacement of the meander model of the glassy state by the random coil theory, and also provided the first confomational models of a series of glassy polymers. He developed new ways of measuring and understanding molecular orientation in deformed polymers, and his studies of polymer - solvent systems led to a theory of 'Case II' diffusion which is now widely accepted and exploited. His recent researches on liquid crystalline polymers have been rewarded by a detailed understanding of the development of microsturcture, and in particular by new insights into the crystallization of random copolymers which depend on the matching of aperiodic sequences. |