Flory-Huggins theory/paramete

In polymer solutions or blends, one of the most important thennodynamic parameters that can be calculated from the (neutron) scattering data is the enthalpic interaction parameter x between the components. Based on the Flory-Huggins theory [4T, 42], the scattering intensity from a polymer in a solution can be expressed as... 

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. 

For more than two decades researchers have attempted to overcome the inadequacies of Flory s treatment in order to establish a model that will provide accurate predictions. Most of these research efforts can be grouped into two categories, i.e., attempts at corrections to the enthalpic or noncombinatorial part, and modifications to the entropic or combinatorial part of the Flory-Huggins theory. The more complex relationships derived by Huggins, Guggenheim, Stavermans, and others [53] required so many additional and poorly determined parameters that these approaches lack practical applications. A review of the more serious deficiencies... 

According to Flory-Huggins theory, the heat of mixing of solvent and polymer is proportional to the binary interaction parameter x in equation (3). The parameter x should be inversely proportional to absolute temperature and independent of solution composition. 

The polymer solubility can be estimated using solubility parameters (11) and the value of the critical oligomer molecular weight can be estimated from the Flory-Huggins theory of polymer solutions (12), but the optimum diluent is still usually chosen empirically. 

The role of the solvent in polymer adsorption has been the subject of much discussion. For example, theories have made predictions about the effect of the polymer/solvent interaction (i.e. Flory Huggins x parameter) on adsorption. For many systems, x parameters had already been tabulated so that a number of adsorption studies focused attention on this parameter. In spite of much effort, available data are ambiguous, sometimes verifying and sometimes contradicting the trends predicted by theory. 

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... 

According to Flory-Huggins theory, in the limit of x the critical x parameter is 0.5.(H) Below this value the polymer and solvent will be miscible in all proportions. Above this value, the solvent will not dissolve the polymer, but will act only as a swelling solvent. Thus, the pure solvent may not dissolve the polymer even though it is not crosslinked. If x is not , the critical value of x is larger, but the same qualitative arguments regarding mutual solubility of the solvent and polymer hold. Thus, the application of Equation 1 does not require that the pure solvent be able to completely dissolve the polymer, only that the solvent dissolve into the polymer by an amount that can be measured. 

Numerical parameter employed in the Flory-Huggins theory, to account for the contribution of the noncombinatorial entropy of mixing and the enthalpy of mixing to the Gibbs energy of mixing. 

What is the physical significance of the x parameter in the Flory-Huggins theory How is it related to solute/solute and solute-solvent interactions ... 

The Flory-Huggins theory of polymer solutions has been documented elsewhere [26, 27]. The basic parameters necessary to predict polymer miscibility are the solubility parameter 6, the interaction parameter %, and the critical interaction parameter ( ) . 

Taking into account the modes in which the water can be sorbed in the resin, different models should be considered to describe the overall process. First, the ordinary dissolution of a substance in the polymer may be described by the Flory-Huggins theory which treats the random mixing of an unoriented polymer and a solvent by using the liquid lattice approach. If as is the penetrant external activity, vp the polymer volume fraction and the solvent-polymer interaction parameter, the relationship relating these variables in the case of polymer of infinite molecular weight is as follows ... 

Equation-of-state theories employ characteristic volume, temperature, and pressure parameters that must be derived from volumetric data for the pure components. Owing to the availability of commercial instruments for such measurements, there is a growing data source for use in these theories (9,11,20). Like the simpler Flory-Huggins theory, these theories contain an interaction parameter that is the principal factor in determining phase behavior in blends of high molecular weight polymers. 

The model of Marchetti et al. is based on the compressible lattice theory which Sanchez and Lacombe developed to apply to polymer-solvent systems which have variable levels of free volume [138-141], This theory is a ternary version of classic Flory-Huggins theory, with the third component in the polymer-solvent system being vacant lattice sites or holes . The key parameters in this theory which affect the polymer-solvent phase diagram are ... 

It should also be mentioned that polymer-solvent interactions can be characterized by the second virial coefficients that appear in equations (8) and (13) and by the free energy of interaction parameter Z1 that appears in the Flory-Huggins theory of polymer solution thermodynamics.1,61... 

Figure 4 shows a plot of the static expansion factor (o ) as a function of the relative temperature 0/T, where a is defined as Rg(T)/Rg(0) and r is the number of residues that may be one monomer unit or a number of repeat units. When T < 0 (water is a good solvent for PNIPAM), the data points are reasonably fitted by the line with r = 105 calculated on the basis of Flory-Huggins theory [15]. Similar results have also been observed for linear polystyrene in cyclohexane [25,49]. The theory works well in the good-solvent region wherein the interaction parameter (x) is expected to be... 

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