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Phase‐Separation Kinetics and Mechanism in a Methylcellulose/Salt Aqueous Solution Studied by Time‐Resolved Small‐Angle Light Scattering (SALS)
Author(s) -
Villetti Marcos A.,
Soldi Valdir,
Rochas Cyrille,
Borsali Redouane
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201000697
Subject(s) - spinodal , spinodal decomposition , aqueous solution , chemistry , kinetics , scattering , kinetic energy , phase (matter) , thermodynamics , salt (chemistry) , light scattering , analytical chemistry (journal) , physics , optics , chromatography , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Phase‐separation dynamics are investigated by SALS in aqueous MC solutions in the presence of 5% NaCl, promoted by a quench temperature. The observed scattering peak indicates that the phase separation occurs by the SD mechanism, leading to a bicontinuous structure. A semilog plot of I ( q ) against time in the early stage of SD gives a straight line, but the position of q max varies; also, a Cahn–Hilliard plot indicates that diffusive processes dominate and the data can be described by linear CHC theory. D app shows a kinetic dependency on the quench temperature. The spinodal temperature of the sample is 41 °C. In the late stages, S ( q , t ) collapses into a universally time‐independent curve.