In this article, we analyze a model of the incipient dynamics of gel swelling, and perform numerical simulations. The governing system consists of balance laws for a mixture of nonlinear elastic solid and solvent yielding effective equations for the gel. We discuss the multiscale nature of the problem and identify physically realistic regimes. The mixing mechanism is based on the Flory-Huggins ...

The phase behavior of aqueous mixtures of gelatin and oligosaccharides above their gelation temperature is investigated experimentally, and rationalized according to a simple multicomponent Flory–Huggins model. When the gelatin is only weakly charged, entropic considerations dominate and it is found that the cloud point curve of the mixtures is extremely sensitive to the molecular weight distri...

Transport of liquids by pervaporation takes place by a solution-diffusion mechanism. In order to investigate the “solution part” of this transport model, preferential sorption has been compared with preferential permeability. Sorption equilibria and pervaporation experiments for the systems water-ethanol-cellulose acetate, water-ethanol-polyacrylonitrile and water-ethanol-polysulfone have been ...

Aqueous two-phase systems consisting of polyethylene glycol (PEG), sodium polyacrylate (NaPAA), and a salt have been studied. The effects of the polymer size, salt type (NaCl, Na2SO4, sodium adipate and sodium azelate) and salt concentrations on the position of the binodal curve were investigated. The investigated PEG molecules had a molar mass of 2,000 to 8,000 g/mol, while that of NaPAA was 8...

We review recent simulation studies of interfaces between immiscible homopolymer phases. Special emphasis is given to the presentation of efficient simulation techniques and powerful methods of data analysis, such as the analysis of capillary wave spectra. Possible reasons for polymer incompatibility and ways to relate model dependent interaction parameters to an effective Flory Huggins paramet...

We show that a film of a suspension of polymer grafted nanoparticles on a liquid substrate can be employed to create two-dimensional nanostructures with a remarkable variation in the pattern length scales. The presented experiments also reveal the emergence of concentration-dependent bimodal patterns as well as re-entrant behaviour that involves length scales due to dewetting and compositional ...

Gas chromatography used to calculate the specific retention volume of several hydrocarbons in different chromatographic liquid phases (Squalane, Carbowax-400, Carbowax-1500, Carbowax-4000, Amine220, Dinonyl phthalate, Tributyl phosphate and Trixylenyl phosphate). Some thermodynamic parameters, such as enthalpy of sorption and Flory-Huggins parameters relating the interaction between liquid phas...

Polymer-polymer complexation in solvent is studied using an extension of the self-consistent field theory. The model polymers are capable of forming ladder-like duplex structures. The duplex formation occurs with an abrupt change of entropy, resulting in a first-order transition. Moreover, the complexation can be stabilized by solvent-polymer interactions, instead of the usual specific binding ...