Solvent, poor

Solvent quality decreases as temperature is lowered, leading to polymer collapse and possible phase separation (the lower part of Fig. 5.1). In 

Section 4.4, the binodal curve that describes the phase boundary was defined. The highest point on the binodal line is the critical point with critical composition [Eq. (4.57)]  

The critical composition (j) and the overlap concentration at the -temperature nearly coincide for monodisperse polymer solutions. The 

Below the binodal, homogeneous solutions phase separate into a dilute supernatant of isolated globules and a concentrated sediment (assuming that the polymer has higher density than the solvent). The overall composition of the dilute phase of isolated globules is the lower volume fraction 

The shape of the binodal near the critical point is not predicted correctly by the mean-field (Flory-Huggins) theory as demonstrated in Fig. 5.3(a). The difference in the two concentrations coexisting at equilibrium in the two-phase region is called the order parameter. This order parameter is analogous to the order parameter of van der Waals for the liquid-vapour phase transition, that is proportional to the density difference between the two coexisting phases. This order parameter is predicted to vary as a power law of the proximity to the critical point  

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Viscosity additives are aliphatic polymers of high molecular weight whose main chain is flexible. It is known that in a poor solvent, interactions between the elements making up the polymer chain are stronger than interactions between the solvent and the chain (Quivoron, 1978), to the point that the polymer chain adopts a ball of yarn configuration. The macromolecules in this configuration occupy a small volume. The viscosity of a solution being related to the volume occupied by the solute, the effect of polymers on the viscosity in a poor solvent will be small. 

Consider that at low temperatures, a lubricant is a poor solvent for polymer chains. When the temperature increases, interactions between polymer chains decrease the space occupied by the polymer ball takes on greater volume and consequently, the viscosity decrease due to the lubricant temperature increase is compensated by the unfolding of the polymer chain and the result is a reduction of the difference between the viscosities at low and high temperature, and therefore an Increase in viscosity index. 

By contrast, a poor solvent is the technical description of a solvent which tends to decrease coil dimensions. 

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. 

In practice, such a fractionation experiment could be carried out by either lowering the temperature or adding a poor solvent. In either case good temperature control during the experiment is important. Note that the addition of a poor solvent converts the system to one containing three components, so it is apparent that the two-component Flory-Huggins model is at best only qualitatively descriptive of the situation. A more accurate description would require a... 

Acrylonitrile—Butadiene—Styrene. Available only as sheet, ABS has good toughness and high impact resistance. It is readily therm oform able over a wide range of temperatures and can be deeply drawn. ABS has poor solvent resistance and low continuous-use temperature. It is often used in housings for office equipment (see Acrylonitrile polymers). 

Polymerizations are typically quenched with water, alcohol, or base. The resulting polymerizates are then distilled and steam and/or vacuum stripped to yield hard resin. Hydrocarbon resins may also be precipitated by the addition of the quenched reaction mixture to an excess of an appropriate poor solvent. As an example, aUphatic C-5 resins are readily precipitated in acetone, while a more polar solvent such as methanol is better suited for aromatic C-9 resins. 

Precipita.tlon. An ink may also be caused to dry by precipitation of its binder rather than by evaporation of solvent. This can be accompHshed by a dding a diluent, such as water in the form of steam or humidity, to a hygroscopic solvent ink system, which causes the solubiHty of the resin in the ink film to decrease sharply and causes it to precipitate when its tolerance for the diluent is reached. Eurther drying is accompHshed by absorption of the solvents into the stock and then by evaporation. Another form of precipitation setting is the quick-set mechanism. This utilizes resins held in solution in a relatively poor solvent, by means of a small amount of an exceUent solvent (called a sweetener) blended with it. When the ink film is printed on the paper, an amount of the solvents is absorbed reducing the content of the sweetener solvent to a point which causes the resins to precipitate and the ink to set. 

Solvent. The solvent properties of water and steam are a consequence of the dielectric constant. At 25°C, the dielectric constant of water is 78.4, which enables ready dissolution of salts. As the temperature increases, the dielectric constant decreases. At the critical point, the dielectric constant is only 2, which is similar to the dielectric constants of many organic compounds at 25°C. The solubiUty of many salts declines at high temperatures. As a consequence, steam is a poor solvent for salts. However, at the critical point and above, water is a good solvent for organic molecules. 

Because of its low dielectric constant, Hquid hydrogen sulfide is a poor solvent for ionic salts, eg, NaCl, but it does dissolve appreciable quantities of anhydrous AlCl, ZnCl2, FeCl, PCl, SiCl, and SO2. Liquid hydrogen sulfide or hydrogen sulfide-containing gases under pressure dissolve sulfur. At equihbrium H2S pressure, the solubihty of sulfur in Hquid H2S at —45, 0, and 40°C is 0.261, 0.566, and 0.920 wt %, respectively (98). The equiHbria among H2S, H2S, and sulfur have been studied (99,100). 

Block copolymers of vinyl acetate with methyl methacrylate, acryflc acid, acrylonitrile, and vinyl pyrrohdinone have been prepared by copolymeriza tion in viscous conditions, with solvents that are poor solvents for the vinyl acetate macroradical (123). Similarly, the copolymeriza tion of vinyl acetate with methyl methacrylate is enhanced by the solvents acetonitrile and acetone and is decreased by propanol (124). Copolymers of vinyl acetate containing cycHc functional groups in the polymer chain have been prepared by copolymeriza tion of vinyl acetate with A/,A/-diaIlylcyanamide and W,W-diaIl5lamine (125,126). 

Chemical and physical solvent losses can render a process uneconomical. Desirable solvents are good solvents for urea, poor solvents for CA, high boiling, and stable to pyrolysis intermediates, ammonia, oxygen, and heat. Although no perfect solvent has been identified, some solvents, eg, dinitriles (94), pyrrohdinones (95,96), and sulfones (97) largely meet these requirements. 

Thermal Phase Inversion Thermal phase inversion is a technique wFich rnav be used to produce large quantities of MF membrane econornicallv, A solution of polvrner in poor solvent is prepared at an elevated temperature. After being formed into its final shape, a sudden drop in solution temperature causes the polvrner to precipitate, The solvent is then w ashed out. Membranes rnavbe spun at high rates using this technique. 

A more interesting example is given with PVC and the polycarbonate of bis-phenol A, both slightly crystalline polymers. It is noticed here that whilst methylene dichloride is a good solvent and tetrahydrofuran a poor solvent for the polycarbonate the reverse is true for PVC yet all four materials have similar solubility parameters. It would seem that the explanation is that a form of hydrogen bonding occurs between the polycarbonate and methylene dichloride and between PVC and tetrahydrofuran (Figure 5.7). In other words there is a specific interaction between each solvent pair. 

The auto-acceleration effect appears most marked with polymers that are insoluble in their monomers. In these circumstances the radical end becomes entrapped in the polymer and termination reactions become very difficult. It has been suggested that, in thermodynamic terms, methyl methacrylate is a relatively poor solvent for poly(methyl methacrylate) because it causes radicals to coil while in solution. The termination reaction is then determined by the rate at which the radical ends come to the surface of the coil and hence become available for mutual termination. 

The fluids have reasonably good chemical resistance but are attacked by concentrated mineral acids and alkalis. They are soluble in aliphatic, aromatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons, which is to be expected from the low solubility parameter of 14.9 MPa. They are insoluble in solvents of higher solubility parameter such as acetone, ethylene glycol and water. They are themselves very poor solvents. Some physical properties of the dimethylsilicone fluids are summarised in Table 29.2. 

Monodispersed poly (methyl methacrylate-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) is prepared by a multistep swelling and polymerization method. When a good solvent such as toluene is applied as a porogen, the seed polymer severely affects the pore structure, whereas no effects are observed with poor solvents, such as cyclohexanol, as a porogen, in comparison with the conventional suspension polymerization (68,69). 

Beryllium is a light metal (s.g. 1 -85) with a hexagonal close-packed structure (axial ratio 1 568). The most notable of its mechanical properties is its low ductility at room temperature. Deformation at room temperature is restricted to slip on the basal plane, which takes place only to a very limited extent. Consequently, at room temperature beryllium is by normal standards a brittle metal, exhibiting only about 2 to 4% tensile elongation. Mechanical deformation increases this by the development of preferred orientation, but only in the direction of working and at the expense of ductility in other directions. Ductility also increases very markedly at temperatures above about 300°C with alternative slip on the 1010 prismatic planes. In consequence, all mechanical working of beryllium is carried out at elevated temperatures. It has not yet been resolved whether the brittleness of beryllium is fundamental or results from small amounts of impurities. Beryllium is a very poor solvent for other metals and, to date, it has not been possible to overcome the brittleness problem by alloying. 

Polycarbonate It is a tough, transparent plastic that offers resistance to bullets and thrown projectiles in glazing for vehicles, buildings, and security installations. It with stands boiling water, but is less resistant to weather and scratching than acrylics. It is notch-sensitive and has poor solvent resistance in stressed molded products. Use includes coffee makers, food blenders, automobile lenses, safety helmets, lenses, and many nonburning electrical applications. 

The heterogeneity of the reaction medium is also important in determining the molecular weight and in solution polymerization of maeromonomers. The magnitude of the effect varies according to the solvent quality. PS macromonomer chains in good solvents (e.g. toluene) have au extended conformation whereas in poor solvents (e.g. melhylcyclohexane) chains are tightly coiled.89 As a consequence, the radical center may see ail environment that is medium dependent (see also Sections 7.6.5 and 8.3.7). 

Polymerization, including radical polymerization, in supercritical C02 has been reviewed.1 6 137 It should be noted supercritical C()2 while a good solvent for many monomers is a very poor solvent for polymers such as the (meth)acrylates and S. As a consequence, with the exception of certain fluoropolymers and polymerizations taken to very low conversion, most polymerizations in supercritical CCb are of necessity precipitation, dispersion or emulsion polymerizations. 

The essential idea of the Alexander model, a global balance of interaction and stretching energies, can be applied to other situations involving tethered chains besides the good solvent case. In theta or poor solvents, the interaction term must be modified to account for poorer solvent quality. A simple limit is precisely at the theta point [29, 30] where binary interactions effectively vanish (% = 1/2 or v = 0). The leading term in Fim now accounts for three-body interactions ... 

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