Swelling equation describing process

The role of a swelling agent in the activated swelling method may be explained by considering the theoretical basis of the process. The swelling of pure polymer particles with the monomer can be described by the Morton equation ... 

This process of molecular diffusion is governed by the difference in chemical potentials of the monomer in the two droplets. Morton s equation has been successfully used to describe the swelling of polymer particles with monomer [32]. According to this equation, the chemical potential of the monomer in a droplet of radius rp(p[ 0 in the presence of polymer is given by ... 

To introduce the new model for the swelling characteristics to the fully coupled THM processes in the resaturation stages, the model explained above is applied to THAMES that is the finite element simulator treating the fully coupled THM process which was improved by Chijimatsu et al(2000). This chapter describes the governing equations of the coupled processes. 

By solving equation 5 with the boundary conditions described, it was found that the relationship between the evolution of the radius of the sphere or the cylinder to its equilibrium value can be described by an infinite sum of exponential decays. Modes with the smallest relaxation times vanish rapidly, and the final stage of the swelling process is described by a single exponential relaxation. 

Hydratation and swelling determine the speed of break-in or leach-out in films with no preliminary soaking ( air wet films), while the speed determinant in swollen or shrunk films is the forming microstructure. The data in Fig. 6 and Table 1 indicate that break-in is described by one process, while leach-out is described by three subprocesses of different speed values. Gaps saturate rapidly, thus only one speed constant is sufficient to describe the process. Nevertheless, we lack data concerning the saturation of the capillary system (the intraparticle micropores). The pore system saturates slowly, micropores are the last to go, and then /p /(p)s- In contrast, leach-out is the summary of three processes the outflow from micropores, mesopores, and macropores, with speed values of increasing character in the order mentioned. The equation for break-in is... 

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