Polymers miscibility, solution thermodynamics

The aim of developing a new polymer blend is to synergistically combine the properties of the individual polymers resulting in an improved material. A general precondition to this scheme of fabrication, however, is that in order for the final blended material to have the desired properties, the final polymeric phases must form a heterophasic blend, i.e., they must have at least partial thermodynamic immiscibility. This is in contrast to the requirement that the initial reactants must form initially miscible solutions. These conditions do not seem to be met by most polyimide-epoxy systems. 

The binary interactirMi generally refers to the interactions between polymer-polymer and polymer-solvent The nature of solvent-polymer interaction plays an important role in the miscibility of blends. Many thermodynamic properties of polymer solutions such as solubility, swelling behavior, etc., depend on the polymer-solvent interaction parameter (y). The quantity was introduced by Flory and Huggins. Discussions of polymer miscibility usually start with Flory-Huggins equation for free energy of mixing of a blend (refer to Chap. 2, Thermodynamics of Polymer Blends ). 

Predictive models for drug-polymer miscibility have been introduced, and they are largely derived from solution thermodynamics. Lattice-based solution models, such as the F-H theory, can be used to assess miscibility in drug-polymer blends, for which the F-H interaction parameter can be considered as a measure of miscibility. In addition, solubility parameter models can be used for this purpose. The methods used to estimate interaction parameters include melting point depression and the determination of solubility parameters using group contribution theory. 

The thermodynamics of polymers in solutions is one of the major topics in the science and technology of polymers. A necessary but not sufficient condition for miscibility is < 0 (AG ix is the free energy of... 

Gas AntisolventRecrystallizations. A limitation to the RESS process can be the low solubihty in the supercritical fluid. This is especially evident in polymer—supercritical fluid systems. In a novel process, sometimes termed gas antisolvent (GAS), a compressed fluid such as CO2 can be rapidly added to a solution of a crystalline soHd dissolved in an organic solvent (114). Carbon dioxide and most organic solvents exhibit full miscibility, whereas in this case the soHd solutes had limited solubihty in CO2. Thus, CO2 acts as an antisolvent to precipitate soHd crystals. Using C02 s adjustable solvent strength, the particle size and size distribution of final crystals may be finely controlled. Examples of GAS studies include the formation of monodisperse particles (<1 fiva) of a difficult-to-comminute explosive (114) recrystallization of -carotene and acetaminophen (86) salt nucleation and growth in supercritical water (115) and a study of the molecular thermodynamics of the GAS crystallization process (21). 

The miscibility behaviour of polymer systems has been studied extensively, and experimental data and thermodynamic models have been generated for (co)polymer solutions and for polymer blends. 

The volume change in these gels is not due to ionic effects, but rather to a thermodynamic phenomenon a lower critical solution temperature (LCST). The uncrosslinked polymer which makes up the gel is completely miscible with water below the LCST above the LCST, water-rich and polymer-rich phases are formed. Similarly, the gel swells to the limit of its crosslinks below the LCST, and collapses above the LCST to form a dense polymer-rich phase. Hence, the kinetics of swelling and collapse are determined mostly by the rate of water diffusion in the gel, but also by the heat transfer rate to the gel. 

A complete quantitative description of the thermodynamics of polymer-polymer solutions also might need to include the effects of polymer tacticity. As demonstrated recently by Schurer et al. (50), changing the stereo configuration of poly (methyl methacrylate) from isotactic to syn-diotactic causes it to become miscible with PVC. These results suggest the importance of the spatial articulation of interacting segments in the polymer. 

DiPaola-Baranyi, G., "Thermodynamic Miscibility of Various Solutes with Styrene-Butyl Methacrylate Polymers and Copolymers," Macromolecules, 14, 683 (1981). 

As stated earlier this method is the commonest method of preparing homogeneous blends in academic studies. It is however not without its pitfalls. Two phase blends can be formed by the evaporation of solvent from solutions of polymers which are themselves thermodynamically miscible. 

Equilibrium is relatively easily achieved in dilute solutions and studies of such systems form the foundation of modern theories of compatibility. Application of such theories to practical problems involves the assumption that useful polymer mixtures require the selection of miscible ingredients and that compatibility can therefore ultimately be explained in terms of thermodynamic stability of the mixture. 

It is known that, in a polymer blend, thermodynamic incompatibility between polymers usually causes demixing of polymers. If the polymer is equilibrated in air, the polymer with the lowest surface energy (hydrophobic polymer) will concentrate at the air interface and reduce the system s interfacial tension as a consequence. The preferential adsorption of a polymer of lower surface tension at the surface was confirmed by a number of researchers for a miscible blend of two different polymers. Based on this concept, surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs) as surface-active additives were synthesized and blended into polymer solutions of polyethersulfone (PES). Depending on the hydro-phobic or hydrophilic nature of the SMM, the membrane surface becomes either more hydrophobic or more hydrophilic than the base polymeric material. ... 

The most basic question when considering a polymer blend concerns the thermodynamic miscibility. Many polymer pairs are now known to be miscible or partially miscible, and many have become commercially Important. Considerable attention has been focussed on the origins of miscibility and binary polymer/polymer phase diagrams. In the latter case, it has usually been observed that high molar mass polymer pairs showing partial miscibility usually exhibit phase diagrams with lower critical solution temperatures (LCST). 

Three different techniques are used for the preparation of state of the art synthetic polymeric membranes by phase inversion 1. thermogelation of, a two or more component mixture, 2. evaporation of a volatile solvent from a two or more component mixture and 3. addition of a nonsolvent to a homogeneous polymer solution. All three procedures may result in symmetric microporous structures or in asymmetric structures with a more or less dense skin at one or both surfaces suitable for reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration or microfiltration. The only thermodynamic presumption for all three preparation procedures is that the free energy of mixing of the polymer system under certain conditions of temperature and composition is negative that is, the system must have a miscibility gap over a defined concentration and temperature range (4). 

Polymer blends typically show a decrease in miscibility with increasing temperature. [27] McMaster has used a modified Flory equation of state thermodynamic model to show that the existence of a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) is caused mainly by differences in the pure component thermal expansion coefficients. 

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