Flory -Huggins interaction paramete

Although the emphasis in these last chapters is certainly on the polymeric solute, the experimental methods described herein also measure the interactions of these solutes with various solvents. Such interactions include the hydration of proteins at one extreme and the exclusion of poor solvents from random coils at the other. In between, good solvents are imbibed into the polymer domain to various degrees to expand coil dimensions. Such quantities as the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, the 0 temperature, and the coil expansion factor are among the ways such interactions are quantified in the following chapters. 

The quantity x is called the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter It is zero for athermal mixtures, positive for endothermic mixing, and negative for exothermic mixing. These differences in sign originate from Eq. (8.39) and reaction (8.A). 

The Flory-Huggins Interaction Parameter. These ideas, based on a study of polymer miscibility, have been appHed to plasticizers according to the foUowiag equation ia which is the molar volume of the plasticizer, obtaiaed from molar mass figures and density values at T, and represents the iateraction parameter (11). 

More fundamental treatments of polymer solubihty go back to the lattice theory developed independentiy and almost simultaneously by Flory (13) and Huggins (14) in 1942. By imagining the solvent molecules and polymer chain segments to be distributed on a lattice, they statistically evaluated the entropy of solution. The enthalpy of solution was characterized by the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, which is related to solubihty parameters by equation 5. For high molecular weight polymers in monomeric solvents, the Flory-Huggins solubihty criterion is X A 0.5. 

The toughness of interfaces between immiscible amorphous polymers without any coupling agent has been the subject of a number of recent studies [15-18]. The width of a polymer/polymer interface is known to be controlled by the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter x between the two polymers. The value of x between a random copolymer and a homopolymer can be adjusted by changing the copolymer composition, so the main experimental protocol has been to measure the interface toughness between a copolymer and a homopolymer as a function of copolymer composition. In addition, the interface width has been measured by neutron reflection. Four different experimental systems have been used, all containing styrene. Schnell et al. studied PS joined to random copolymers of styrene with bromostyrene and styrene with paramethyl styrene [17,18]. Benkoski et al. joined polystyrene to a random copolymer of styrene with vinyl pyridine (PS/PS-r-PVP) [16], whilst Brown joined PMMA to a random copolymer of styrene with methacrylate (PMMA/PS-r-PMMA) [15]. The results of the latter study are shown in Fig. 9. 

Helfand and Tagami [75,76] introduced a model which considered the probability that a chain of polymer 1 has diffused a given distance into polymer 2 when the interactions are characterised by the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter x They predicted that at equilibrium the thickness , d c, of the interface would depend upon the interaction parameter and the mean statistical segment length, b, as follows ... 

ATBN - amine terminated nitrile rubber X - Flory Huggins interaction parameter CPE - carboxylated polyethylene d - width at half height of the copolymer profile given by Kuhn statistical segment length DMAE - dimethyl amino ethanol r - interfacial tension reduction d - particle size reduction DSC - differential scanning calorimetry EMA - ethylene methyl acrylate copolymer ENR - epoxidized natural rubber EOR - ethylene olefin rubber EPDM - ethylene propylene diene monomer EPM - ethylene propylene monomer rubber EPR - ethylene propylene rubber EPR-g-SA - succinic anhydride grafted ethylene propylene rubber... 

Another study looked at the miscibihty of E-plastomer-polyisobutylene blends. Blends were prepared from linear E-plastomers and a polyisobutylenes in the entire composition range. Flory-Huggins interaction parameters were determined from DMTA and DSC measurements. The usual technique had to be modified in the case of DSC data, since the Tg of E-plastomers cannot be detected by this technique. The two methods yielded identical results and indicated good interaction of the components, which was supported also by a SEM study and the mechanical properties of the blends. 

Here % is the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter and ( ), is the penetrant volume fraction. In order to use Eqs. (26)—(28) for the prediction of D, one needs a great deal of data. However, much of it is readily available. For example, Vf and Vf can be estimated by equating them to equilibrium liquid volume at 0 K, and Ku/y and K22 - Tg2 can be computed from WLF constants which are available for a large number of polymers [31]. Kn/y and A n - Tg can be evaluated by using solvent viscosity-temperature data [28], The interaction parameters, %, can be determined experimentally and, for many polymer-penetrant systems, are available in the literature. 

Figure 14. The phase diagram of the gradient copolymer melt with the distribution functions g(x) = l — tanh(ciit(x —fo)) shown in the insert of this figure for ci = 3,/o = 0.5 (solid line), and/o — 0.3 (dashed line), x gives the position of ith monomer from the end of the chain in the units of the linear chain length. % is the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, N is a polymerization index, and/ is the composition (/ = J0 g(x) dx). The Euler characteristic of the isotropic phase (I) is zero, and that of the hexagonal phase (H) is zero. For the bcc phase (B), XEuier = 4 per unit cell for the double gyroid phase (G), XEuier = -16 per unit cell and for the lamellar phases (LAM), XEuier = 0.

The Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, x Is the sum of enthalpic (xH) and entropic (x ) contributions to the polymer-solute interactions (28). xs is an emPitical constant related to the coordination of the polymer subunits (29). Chiou et al. (20) have selected a value of 0.25 for xs of humlc matter. From regular solution theory, xq is given by... 

Flory-Huggins interaction parameter (-) enthalpic contribution to x ( ) entropic contribution to x ( ) efficiency factor for sorption (-)... 

In this study, melting point depression was used to obtain the parameter X12, known as the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter [40] ... 

Several authors have attempted to corrolate the degradation rate with such solvent parameters as osmotic coefficient [35], viscosity [36-38] and the Flory Huggins interaction parameter, % [39,40] - a low % value indicates a good solvent in which the polymer is expected to exhibit an open conformation (as opposed to coiled) and therefore is more susceptible to degradation (Fig. 5.15). 

The Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, x, indicates the water affinity of the polymer while Ch is a measure of the fraction of bound water in the... 

Ky is the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter between the i and j monomers. In Eq. 6.6, the matrices have a dimension (m) (m). We note that the s-depen-dence of the excluded volume matrix is solely determined by the contribution of the bare susceptibility yoo(Q> ) he invisible matrix component 0 . Finally, combining Eq. 6.6 with Eq. 6.1 the response function in the interacting system is given by ... 

Schwahn, D. Willner, L. Phase Behavior and Flory-Huggins Interaction Parameter of Binary Polybutadiene Copolymer Mixtures with Different Vinyl Content and Molar Volume. Macromolecules 2002,35, 239-247. 

In addition to the solubility parameter model to treat SEC adsorption effects, an approach based on Flory-Huggins interaction parameters has also been proposed (24-27). For an excellent review of both mechanisms, see reference 28.- A general treatment of polymer adsorption onto chromatographic packings can be found in Belenkii and Vilenchik s recent book (29). 

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