Total effective weight, equilibrium phase

The GC route is particularly attractive for it requires no a priori information on the polymer. With the exception of X-ray measurements, most methods of measurement involve a comparison of some property of the polymer, such as density, with that of the totally amorphous or crystalline material. Furthermore neither the mass of polymer in the column nor the flow rate of carrier gas need to be measured since a ratio of retention volumes is computed in Eq. (21). It should be added, however, ttiat for the successful application of the method it is essential that the measured retention volumes correspond effectively to equilibrium bulk sorption, both above and below. Low molecular weight compounds are known to exhibit apparently similar discontinuities in retention diagrams at their melting points but this is to be ascribed to a change in retention mechanism, from surface adsorption for the solid to bulk sorption for the liquid stationary phase. For a detailed discussion of retention characteristics of low molecular weight substances near their transition temperatures the reader is referred to a recent review by McCrea (8J). 

Figure 6.4 Effect of water on the total void pressure as the temperature increases in a typical curing cycle. Percentages are equilibrium water contents by weight in the resin phase...

The apparent diffusion coefficient, Da in Eq. (11) is a mole fraction-weighted average of the probe diffusion coefficient in the continuous phase and the microemulsion (or micelle) diffusion coefficient. It replaces D in the current-concentration relationships where total probe concentration is used. Both the zero-kinetics and fast-kinetics expressions require knowledge of the partition coefficient and the continuous-phase diffusion coefficient for the probe. Texter et al. [57] showed that finite exchange kinetics for electroactive probes results in zero-kinetics estimates of partitioning equilibrium constants that are lower bounds to the actual equilibrium constants. The fast-kinetics limit and Eq. (11) have generally been considered as a consequence of a local equilibrium assumption. This use is more or less axiomatic, since existing analytical derivations of effective diffusion coefficients from reaction-diffusion equations are approximate. 

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