0000000000948885
AUTHOR
Hans-michael Petri
Continuous polymer fractionation of poly(methyl vinyl ether) and a new Kuhn-Mark-Houwink relation
Continuous polymer fractionation (CPF) — a new large-scale method — was applied to the technical poly(methyl vinyl ether) (PVME) using toluence as solvent and petroleum ether as non-solvent. Two different devices served as fractionation apparatus, namely a column packed with glass beads and a set of mixer-settler extractors. Advantages and draw-backs of these devices are discussed. The experiments yielded numerous PVME fractions, varying in molar mass from 22 to 87 kg/mol and in molecular non-uniformity U = (M¯w/Mn) – 1 from 0,25 to 0,41 according to gel-permeation chromatography as compared with ca. U = 1,30 for the starting material. The following Kuhn-Mark-Houwink relation was establishe…
Composition-dependent Flory-Huggins parameters: molecular weight influences at high concentrations
Flory-Huggins interaction parameters X were determined by means of equilibrium vapor pressures (measured via a combination of a head-space sampler with a gas chromatograph) and light scattering as a function of composition and temperature for the systems cyclohexanone/polystyrene [CHO/PS] and cyclohexanone/poly(butyl methacrylate) [CHO/PBMA]. The investigation of molecular weight influences on X with the system CHO/PBMA demonstrates that they persist almost up to the pure polymer. In order to rationalize this result, it is postulated (in accord with experimental findings and theoretical predictions) that the dimensions of polymer chains may vary upon the addition of solvent even in highly c…