ISSN:
0098-1273
Keywords:
Physics
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Physics
Notes:
The relationship between the critical point and the precipitation threshold is examined in the Flory - Huggins approximation with concentration-independent interaction parameter χ. Approximate explicit expressions for the difference between the critical point and the threshold can be derived by series expansion of threshold conditions. In the first-order approximation, the concentration difference depends only on the chainlength averages xw, xz, and xz+1, in the second-order approximation it depends on xw, xz, xz+1, and xz+2, etc. For polymers of low polydispersity, the second-order approximation gives a good estimate of the concentration difference; for instance, for polymers with exponential distribution and xw/xn 〈 1.25, the error is lower than ca. 1%. The approximation is not suitable for polymers with xz+1 ≫ xz (including polymers whose cloud-point curve exhibits a triple point). Irrespective of the polydispersity of the polymer, the threshold as well as the whole cloud-point curve depend only on the weight-average and higher averages, xw, xz, xz+1, …, xz+k, where k → ∞; they are, however, independent of the number average xn.
Additional Material:
1 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pol.1974.180120910
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