Reddit reviews Polymer Chemistry

http://www.amazon.com/Polymer-Chemistry-Second-Edition-Hiemenz/dp/1574447793

>Are most glassy systems polymers?

I would say that the ones that most people interact with are likely polymers. That said, there are lots of small molecule glasses. For example: OLEDs are made by using thin layers of organic molecules, like the screens of some Samsung phones. These layers are glasses made from these organic molecules.

Glasses also tend to dissolve faster than their crystalline counterparts (as opposed to having higher solubility, which they do not) and so some drug manufacturers are beginning to deliver drugs in the glassy state.

>And do structural glasses have any features in common with spin-glasses?

None that I'm aware of, but I also do not follow much of the spin-glass literature, beyond simple Ising model pictures.

>Are there any good textbooks (like advanced undergrad level) that cover glass systems?

I don't know of any off hand. Chapter 12 of Heimenz and Lodge discusses glassy polymers, and much of the phenomenology carries over to small molecule and network glasses like silica. But I don't know of any books dedicated just to glasses.

I've never tried that book. I think my intro to polymers class used this one. It's a good overview of the basics of polymer science (despite the name it's more physics than chemistry). It assumes that you know the basics of elasticity, thermo, and o-chem. But you don't actually have to remember o-chem to understand it as it only covers the polymerization reactions as general catagories.) If I may ask, are you starting a new job? Or just reading up on polymers?