Flory-Huggins model, polymer glass

Gibbs and DiMarzio [47] (GD) first developed a systematic statistical mechanical theory of glass formation in polymer fluids, based on experimental observations and on lattice model calculations by Meyer, Flory, Huggins, and... 

Simulations [73] have recently provided some insights into the formal 5c —> 0 limit predicted by mean field lattice model theories of glass formation. While Monte Carlo estimates of x for a Flory-Huggins (FH) lattice model of a semifiexible polymer melt extrapolate to infinity near the ideal glass transition temperature Tq, where 5c extrapolates to zero, the values of 5c computed from GD theory are too low by roughly a constant compared to the simulation estimates, and this constant shift is suggested to be sufficient to prevent 5c from strictly vanishing [73, 74]. Hence, we can reasonably infer that 5 approaches a small, but nonzero asymptotic low temperature limit and that 5c similarly becomes critically small near Tq. The possibility of a constant... 

Gibbs principle of multiple phase equihbria is applied to model polymer solutions to explore the possible types of heterophase coexistence and phase transitions. The fundamental properties of dilute polymer solutions and hquid-hquid phase separation driven by van der Waals-type interaction is reviewed within the framework of Flory-Huggins theory. No specific molecular interactions are assumed. Refinement of the polymer-solvent contact energy beyond Flory-Huggins description is attempted to study the glass transition of polymer solutions at low temperatures. The scaling description of semiconcentrated polymer solutions is summarized. 

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