Virial coefficients and osmotic pressure in polymer solutions in good-solvent conditions

We determine the second, third, and fourth virial coefficients appearing in the density expansion of the osmotic pressure Pi of a monodisperse polymer solution in good-solvent conditions. Using the expected large-concentration behavior, we extrapolate the low-density expansion outside the dilute regime, obtaining the osmotic pressure for any concentration in the semidilute region. Comparison with field-theoretical predictions and experimental data shows that the obtained expression is quite accurate. The error is approximately 1%-2% below the overlap concentration and rises at most to 5%-10% in the limit of very large polymer concentrations. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.