The Surface Tension of Polymeric Systems

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 

A scaling analysis [95-97] provides the temperature and molecular weight dependence 

Finally, similar effects can be seen in miscible polymer blends where the surface tension correlates with the enrichment of the lower-energy component at the surface as monitored by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy [104], 

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