CRC handbook of liquid-liquid equilibrium data of polymer solutions

Abstract

Knowledge of thermodynamic data of polymer solutions is a necessity for industrial and laboratory processes. Furthermore, such data serve as essential tools for understanding the physical behavior of polymer solutions, for studying intermolecular interactions, and for gaining insights into the molecular nature of mixtures. They also provide the necessary basis for any developments of theoretical thermodynamic models. Scientists and engineers in academic and industrial research need such data and will benefit from a careful collection of existing data. The new CRC Handbook of Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Data of Polymer Solutions builds a completely new and reliable collection of LLE data for polymer solutions from the original literature. It will be a very useful completion to the CRC Handbook of Thermodynamic Data of Copolymer Solutions, the CRC Handbook of Thermodynamic Data of Aqueous Polymer Solutions, and the CRC Handbook of Thermodynamic Data of Polymer Solutions at Elevated Pressures.

The Handbook is divided into five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Data of Binary Polymer Solutions, (3) Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Data of Ternary Polymer Solutions, (4) Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Data of Quaternary Polymer Solutions, and (5) References (for all chapters). Finally, appendices quickly route the user to the desired data sets. Thus, the book covers all the necessary systems for researchers and engineers who work in this field.

In comparison with low-molecular systems, the amount of data for polymer solutions is still rather small. About 1000 literature sources were perused for the purpose of this handbook, including some dissertations and diploma papers. About 1210 data sets, i.e., 810 binary systems, 325 ternary systems (among them 110 systems composed of one polymer and two solvents and 215 systems composed of one solvent and two polymers), and 25 quaternary (or higher) systems are reported. Additionally, tables of systems are provided where results were published only in graphical form in the original literature to lead the reader to further sources. Data are included only if numerical values were published or authors provided their numerical results by personal communication (and I wish to thank all those who did so). No digitized data have been included in this data collection. The Handbook is the first complete overview about this subject in the world s literature. The closing day for the data collection was December 31, 2006. However, the user who is in need of new additional data sets is kindly invited to ask for new information beyond this book via e-mail at wohlfarth@chemie.uni-halle.de. Additionally, the author will be grateful to all users who call his attention to mistakes and make suggestions for improvements.

The CRC Handbook of Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Data of Polymer Solutions will be useful to researchers, specialists, and engineers working in the fields of polymer science, physical chemistry, chemical engineering, material science, biological science and technology, and those developing computerized predictive packages. The Handbook should also be of use as a data source to Ph.D. students and faculty in chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, biotechnology, and materials science departments at universities