ISSN:
0098-1273
Keywords:
Physics
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Physics
Notes:
Acoustic absorption and adiabatic compressibility measurements are reported on solutions of polystyrene (Mn = 89,000) in toluene and cyclohexane. The data in toluene cover a temperature range from 293 to 343°K and a concentration range of 10-400 Kg m-3 (1-40 wt%). The dependence of acoustic absorption on concentration was found to be linear up to 100 kg m-3, which corresponds to the concentration at which polymer-polymer interactions cause significant changes in the specific viscosity-concentration relationship. Up to 200 kg m-3 the data could be fitted to computations based on an artificial separation of the dispersion into contributions from viscoelastic and segmental processes, using parameters obtained from a study of narrow molecular weight distribution samples at 25 kg m-3. However, neither approach was capable of describing dispersions in the 300, 400 kg m-3 solutions. The modification of the relaxation spectrum observed at the highest concentrations is ascribed to volume and entropy changes associated with alterations of the local environment around a segment of the polymer chain. These changes have their origin in interchain penetration and polymer-polymer contacts, and indicate that ‘entanglement’ is primarily entropic in effect.The adiabatic compressibility exhibited similar deviations from a simple concentration dependence, and allowed estimation of an incompressible volume increment associated with polymer-polymer interactions in the high-concentration entangled matrix. However, the adiabatic compressibilities of solutions of polystyrene, 10-15 kg m-3, in cyclohexane showed no deviations from simple behavior in the region of the theta temperature. Measurements of the adiabatic compressibility of polystyrene in mixtures of cyclohexane-toluene have been used to obtain the relative magnitude of solvent and polymer contributions to the excess compressibility.
Additional Material:
6 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pol.1977.180150207
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