Polymer phase equilibria

Tumakaka, F, Gross, J., and Sadowski, G., Modeling of polymer phase equilibria using perturbed-chain SAFT, Fluid Phase Equilibria, 541, 194—197, 2002. 

Sadowski, G., 2011. Modeling of polymer phase equilibria using equations of state. In Enders, S. and Wolf, B.A., eds. Polymer Thermodynamics Liquid Polymer-Containing Mixtures. Advances in Polymer Science, Vol. 238, p. 389, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg. 

Modeling of Polymer Phase Equilibria Using Equations of State. 389... 

Abstract The most promising approach for the calculation of polymer phase equilibria today is the use of equations of state that are based on perturbation theories. These theories consider an appropriate reference system to describe the repulsive interactions of the molecules, whereas van der Waals attractions or the formation of hydrogen bonds are considered as perturbations of that reference system. Moreover, the chain-like structure of polymer molecules is explicitly taken into account. This work presents the basic ideas of these kinds of models. It will be shown that they (in particular SAFT and PC-SAFT) are able to describe and even to predict the phase behavior of polymer systems as functions of pressure, temperature, polymer concentration, polymer molecular weight, and polydispersity as well as - in case of copolymers - copolymer composition. 

As already seen in Fig. 6, polymer phase equilibria do depend on the molecular weight of the polymer. This is even more pronounced for liquid-liquid equilibria, where the polymer distributes to the two liquid phases (in the case of vapor-liquid equilibria, the polymer is only present in the liquid phase whereas the vapor contains only the pure solvent).This fact needs of course also to be accounted for... 

Tumakaka F, Gross J, Sadowski G (2002) Modeling of polymer phase equilibria using Perturbed-Chain SAFT. Fluid Phase Equilib 194—197 541-551... 

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