The author carries out numerical simulations of vesicle formation based on the density functional theory for block copolymer solutions. It is shown by solving the time evolution equations for concentrations that a polymer vesicle is spontaneously formed from the homogeneous state. The vesicle formation mechanism obtained by this simulation agrees with the results of other simulations based on t...

A linear correlation function is found for cloudpoint composition curves of ternary systems consisting of one polymer, one solvent and one non-solvent. The conditions for validity of this correlation function appear to be that the polymer is strongly incompatible with the non-solvent, and that only liquid-liquid demixing occurs. The linearized cloudpoint (LCP) curve is interpreted in terms of t...

Separation of aromatic/non-aromatic mixtures by membrane based pervaportion process is usually analyzed by the solution-diffusion model which assumes that a permeating component is first dissolved in the membrane and then diffuses through the membrane due to its driving force. Therefore, the separate evaluation of sorption equilibria is necessary in order to determine the controlling step in ov...

Formation of asphaltene deposition during oil production, processing and synthesis is known as a fundamental problem of petroleum reservoir worldwide. Asphaltene is a petroleum fraction that can lead to increasing the operating costs in these industries. Variations in operational pressure, temperature and fluid composition are generally the significant cause of asphaltene precipitation. In ...

An optimization-based procedure for estimating unknown parameters in solution-diffusion models of membrane pervaporation is presented. Permeation of two components through a polymer membrane is described by distinct solution and diffusion models. The solution model is based on a modified form of Flory-Huggins theory that accounts for interactions between the two penetrants. The diffusion model ...

The electrosorption behaviour of non-ionic surfactant: N-decanoyl-N-methylglucamine on mercury electrode in 1 mol dm−3 NaClO4 solution was determined. The values of the relative surface excess were determined on the basis of double layer differential capacity. A set of parameters of maximal adsorption and the constants of Frumkin, modified Flory-Huggins and virial adsorption isotherms were obta...

Permanently crosslinked polyelectrolyte gels are known to undergo discontinuous first-order volume phase transitions, the onset of which may be caused by a number of factors. In this study we examine the volumetric properties of such polyelectrolyte gels in relation to the progressive substitution of monovalent counterions by divalent counterions as the gels are equilibrated in solvents of diff...

Recent progress in modelling the solvent vapor annealing of thin film block copolymers is examined in the context of a self-consistent field theory framework. Key control variables in determining the final microdomain morphologies include swelling ratio or swollen film solvent volume fraction, swollen film thickness, substrate and vapor atmosphere surface energies, effective volume fraction, an...

A modified expression for the change in chemical potential of a solvent, in a polymer network, due to isotropic swelling was obtained by substituting a non-Gaussian chain length probability distribution in Flory’s statistical analysis of rubber elasticity. The affine non-Gaussian expression for the free energy change due to elastic deformation was compared to both the traditional Flory and the ...

2014 We consider three types of critical points associated with the segregation of long, flexible, polymer chains : 1) one polymer + poor solvent, 2) two molten polymer species without solvent, 3) two dilute polymer species in a good solvent. For all these cases the Flory Huggins theory (or its extensions) would lead to a classical (mean field) type of critical behaviour. We analyse the critica...