• On the water-induced critical double point in a polymer solution: the role of isotopic substitution

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      https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/pram/049/05/0493-0504

    • Keywords

       

      Liquid-liquid transitions; critical double point; polymer demixing; isotopic substitution

    • Abstract

       

      This paper examines the effect of substitution of water by heavy water in a polymer solution of polystyrene (molecular weight=13000) and acetone. A critical double point (CDP), at which the upper and the lower partially-miscible regions merge, occurs at nearly the same coordinates as for the system [polystyrene+acetone+water]. The shape of the critical line for [polystyrene+acetone+heavy water] is highly asymmetric. An explanation for the occurrence of the water-induced CDP in [polystyrene+acetone] is advanced in terms of the interplay between contact energy dissimilarity and free-volume disparity of the polymer and the solvent. The question of the possible existence of a one-phasehole in an hourglass phase diagram is addressed in [polystyrene+acetone+water]. Our data exclude such a possibility.

    • Author Affiliations

       

      B M Jaffar Ali1 S Venkatachalam1 2 A Kumar1

      1. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012, India
      2. Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA - 92093, USA
    • Dates

       
  • Pramana – Journal of Physics | News

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