Interfacial tension between coexisting polymer solutions in mixed solvents and its correlation with bulk thermodynamics: phase equilibria (liquid/gas and liquid/liquid) for the system toluene/ethanol/PDMS

Abstract Vapor pressures, phase equilibria and interfacial tensions σ were measured for solutions of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS, M w [equals]75 kg/mol and M n [equals]50 kg/mol) in mixed solvents of toluene (TL) and ethanol (EtOH) at 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C. The experimental ternary phase diagrams can be modeled quantitatively from the determined concentration and temperature dependent binary interaction parameters χ ij if the experimentally inaccessible composition dependence of χ EtOH/PDMS is adjusted. The relations between σ and the equation of state of the system differ from that applying to single solvents. The exponents as well as the amplitude prefactors of the corresponding scaling l…