POM Path-Memory Bimodal Basin Test
A material is admissible as equivalent only if identical mechanical observables imply a unique internal state. If multiple hidden basins exist under identical acceptance criteria, then equivalence is structurally invalid.
Observables do not define state. If two systems behave the same but evolve differently, they were never the same system.
Mechanical equivalence implies molecular equivalence
Standard qualification assumes that parts meeting tensile and visual criteria are interchangeable, regardless of thermal microhistory.
Path-dependent basin divergence
Thermal microcycling may drive the polymer into distinct internal basins that are not visible in standard mechanical tests but alter functional behavior.
Thermally microcycled POM under mechanical equivalence constraints
Identical POM samples are subjected to controlled microcycle histories while constrained to pass tensile equivalence gates.
Existence of multiple admissible internal states
The governing variable is whether multiple molecular basins exist under identical observable constraints.
- Single basin → equivalence holds
- Multiple basins → equivalence collapses
Divergence under hidden-state probes
- DSC bifurcation (Tc / enthalpy shifts)
- Low-stress creep divergence
- Residual strain differences
- Persistence after reset anneal
Reset irreversibility
If divergence persists after standardized annealing, the system cannot be restored to a unique baseline state.
What breaks the assumption
Pass: All samples converge to a single basin and reset eliminates divergence.
Fail: Mechanically identical samples occupy distinct, reset-resistant molecular states.
Equivalence is path-dependent
Material identity is not defined solely by present observables but by the trajectory that produced them.
A system is not defined by what it is—it is defined by how it got there.
If two states cannot be distinguished by observation but diverge in evolution, then state identity is fundamentally path-dependent.