Solutions Polymer-solvent interaction

In polymer solutions and blends, it becomes of interest to understand how the surface tension depends on the molecular weight (or number of repeat units, IV) of the macromolecule and on the polymer-solvent interactions through the interaction parameter, x- In terms of a Hory lattice model, x is given by the polymer and solvent interactions through... 

Many ceUulosic derivatives form anisotropic, ie, Hquid crystalline, solutions, and cellulose acetate and triacetate are no exception. Various cellulose acetate anisotropic solutions have been made using a variety of solvents (56,57). The nature of the polymer—solvent interaction determines the concentration at which hquid crystalline behavior is initiated. The better the interaction, the lower the concentration needed to form the anisotropic, birefringent polymer solution. Strong organic acids, eg, trifluoroacetic acid are most effective and can produce an anisotropic phase with concentrations as low as 28% (58). Trifluoroacetic acid has been studied with cellulose triacetate alone or in combination with other solvents (59—64) concentrations of 30—42% (wt vol) triacetate were common. 

Dilute Polymer Solutions. The measurement of dilute solution viscosities of polymers is widely used for polymer characterization. Very low concentrations reduce intermolecular interactions and allow measurement of polymer—solvent interactions. These measurements ate usually made in capillary viscometers, some of which have provisions for direct dilution of the polymer solution. The key viscosity parameter for polymer characterization is the limiting viscosity number or intrinsic viscosity, [Tj]. It is calculated by extrapolation of the viscosity number (reduced viscosity) or the logarithmic viscosity number (inherent viscosity) to zero concentration. 

Polyisobutylene is readily soluble in nonpolar Hquids. The polymer—solvent interaction parameter Xis a. good indication of solubiHty. Values of 0.5 or less for a polymer—solvent system indicate good solubiHty values above 0.5 indicate poor solubiHty. Values of X foi several solvents are shown in Table 2 (78). The solution properties of polyisobutylene, butyl mbber, and halogenated butyl mbber are very similar. Cyclohexane is an exceUent solvent, benzene a moderate solvent, and dioxane a nonsolvent for polyisobutylene polymers. 

Tseng et al. [164] suecessfully used UNIFAC to optimize polymer-solvent interactions in three-solvent systems, determining polymer activity as a function of the solvent eomposition. The composition yielding the minimum in polymer aetivity was taken as the eriterion for optimum interaetion, and it eompared well with experimental measurements of dissolution rate and solution clarity. Better agreement was obtained using UNIFAC than using solubility parameter methods. 

Part (a) is the driving force for the adsorption. If only (a) were present, adsorbed chains would lie flat on the surface. Parts (b) and (c) are the opposing forces (b) accounts for the entropy loss of a bond on the surface as compared to the solution, (c) represents the separation into a concentrated surface phase and a dilute solution. Part (d) arises from polymer-polymer, solvent-solvent and polymer-solvent interactions, which usually favour accumulation of segments. At equili-... 

Equation (23) predicts a dependence of xR on M2. Experimentally, it was found that the relaxation time for flexible polymer chains in dilute solutions obeys a different scaling law, i.e. t M3/2. The Rouse model does not consider excluded volume effects or polymer-solvent interactions, it assumes a Gaussian behavior for the chain conformation even when distorted by the flow. Its domain of validity is therefore limited to modest deformations under 0-conditions. The weakest point, however, was neglecting hydrodynamic interaction which will now be discussed. 

Figure47. Chronoamperometric responses to potential steps carried out using a polypyrrole electrode from -2000 to 300 mV vs. SCE for 50 s, in 0.1 M UCI04 solutions of different solvents. (Reprinted from H.-J. Grande, T. F. Otero, and I. Cantero, Conformational relaxation in conducting polymers Effect of the polymer-solvent interactions. 7. Non-Cryst. Sol. 235-237,619, 1998, Figs. 1-3, Copyright 1998. Reproduced with kind permission of Elsevier Science-NL, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, 1055 KV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.)...

In good solvents, a polymer becomes well solvated by solvent molecules and the conformation of its molecules expands. By contrast, in poor solvents a polymer is not well solvated, and hence adopts a relatively contracted conformation. Eventually of course, if the polymer is sufficiently poor the conformation becomes completely contracted, there are no polymer-solvent interactions, and the polymer precipitates out of solution. In other words, the ultimate poor solvent is a non-solvent. 

One factor which affects the extent of polymer-solvent interactions is relative molar mass of the solute. Therefore the point at which a molecule just ceases to be soluble varies with relative molar mass, which means that careful variation of the quality of the solvent can be used to fractionate a polymer into... 

Kuwahara N. On the polymer-solvent interaction in polymer solutions. Journal of Polymer Science Part A.l, 7, (1963) 2395-2406. 

But for any arbitrary polymer concentration C2 there will be another osmotic pressure due to the previously considered polymer-solvent interaction and to the associated elastic reaction of the network. Recalling the general relationship tz= — (mi —mi)/vi, we may calculate oTo from Eq. (38). At equilibrium the total osmotic pressure arising from the effects of all solutes must be zero, i.e., — JCq. Hence from Eqs. 

Below a critical concentration, c, in a thermodynamically good solvent, r 0 can be standardised against the overlap parameter c [r)]. However, for c>c, and in the case of a 0-solvent for parameter c-[r ]>0.7, r 0 is a function of the Bueche parameter, cMw The critical concentration c is found to be Mw and solvent independent, as predicted by Graessley. In the case of semi-dilute polymer solutions the relaxation time and slope in the linear region of the flow are found to be strongly influenced by the nature of polymer-solvent interactions. Taking this into account, it is possible to predict the shear viscosity and the critical shear rate at which shear-induced degradation occurs as a function of Mw c and the solvent power. 

The properties of polymers in solution are investigated in conjunction with adsorption since solution properties are dependent on polymer-solvent interactions... 

Since the polymer-solvent interaction changes with concentration, Molecular weight measurements by VPO, must be conducted within controlled concentration range. If the concentration is too high, significant condensation will take place on the solution droplet, thus reducing the difference in vapour pressure between the solution and the solvent. 

Tautomerism on polymer should be quite sensitive to neighbouring group effects (composition and unit distribution, steric hindrance and tacticity) and to the microenvironment polarity in solution (copolymer-solvent interactions, critical concentration c of coil interpenetration). The determination of the tautomerism constant KT=(total conjugated forms)/(keto form) in dilute (csemi-dilute (c>c ) solution from H-NMR at 250 MHz and from UV spectroscopy has been reported elsewhere (39,43). The following spectrometric data related to keto-2-picolyl and keto-qui-naldyl structures are quite illustrative ... 

Navard and Haudin studied the thermal behavior of HPC mesophases (87.88) as did Werbowyj and Gray (2), Seurin et al. (Sp and, as noted above, Conio et al. (43). In summary, HjPC in H2O exhibits a unique phase behavior characterized by reversible transitions at constant temperatures above 40 C and at constant compositions when the HPC concentration is above ca. 40%. A definitive paper has been recently published by Fortin and Charlet ( who studied the phase-separation temperatures for aqueous solutions of HPC using carefully fractionated HPC samples. They showed the polymer-solvent interaction differs in tiie cholesteric phase (ordered molecular arrangement) from that in the isotropic phase (random molecular arrangement). 

Qualitative characterization of the polymer-solvent interaction. A solution of a polymer in a beher solvent is characterized by a higher value of the second virial coefficient than a solution of the same polymer in a poorer solvent. 

The alternative value, which describes the polymer-solvent interaction is the second virial coefficient, A2 from the power series expressing the colligative properties of polymer solutions such as vapor pressure, conventional light scattering, osmotic pressure, etc. The second virial coefficient in [mL moH] assumes the small positive values for coiled macromolecules dissolved in the thermodynamically good solvents. Similar to %, also the tabulated A2 values for the same polymer-solvent systems are often rather different [37]. There exists a direct dependence between A2 and % values [37]. 

Volume swelling measurements have produced erratic results even under the most carefully controlled conditions. One important contribution in this regard is the work of Bills and Salcedo (8). These investigations showed that the binder-filler bond could be completely released with certain solvent systems and that the volume swelling ratio is independent of the filler content when complete release is achieved. Some thermodynamic problems exist, however, when such techniques are used to measure crosslink density quantitatively. First, equilibrium swelling is difficult to achieve since the fragile swollen gel tends to deteriorate with time even under the best conditions. Second, the solubility of the filler (ammonium perchlorate) and other additives tends to alter the solution thermodynamics of the system in an uncontrollable manner. Nonreproducible polymer-solvent interaction results, and replicate value of crosslink density are not obtained. 

In Flory s theory (/< ), a polymer-solvent system is characterized by a temperature 0 at which (i) excluded-volume effects are just balanced by polymer-solvent interactions, so that os=l, (ii) the second virial coefficient is zero, irrespective of the MW of the polymer, and (iii) the polymer, of infinite molecular weight, is just completely miscible with the solvent The fundamental definition of the temperature is a macroscopic one, namely that for T near 0 the excess chemical potential of the solvent in a solution of polymer volume fraction v2 is of the form (18) ... 

The viscosity of a polymer solution is one of its most distinctive properties. The spatial extension of the molecules is great enough so that the solute particles cut across velocity gradients and increase the viscosity in the manner suggested by Figure 4.8. In this regard they are no different from the rigid spheres of the Einstein model. What is different for these molecules is the internal structure of the dispersed units, which are flexible and swollen with solvent. The viscosity of a polymer solution depends, therefore, on the polymer-solvent interactions, as well as on the properties of the polymer itself. 

Attachment of a single segment of the polymer chain is sufficient to confine the molecule to the layer of solution adjacent to the adsorbing surface. The solid exerts very little influence on the polymer molecule as a whole in such a case. In fact, the overall spatial extension of the polymer chain is expected to be about the same as that of an isolated molecule in this situation. The polymer-solvent interaction plays a more important role than the polymer-surface interaction in determining the thickness of the adsorbed layer in this case. This is only one of the relative interaction combinations possible, but it is the one that we consider in the greatest detail. As the number of polymer segments actually attached to the surface increases, the influence of the surface causes the spatial extension of the adsorbed chains to decrease. 

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