Abstract
Earlier theoretical calculations of the interfacial tension σ of phase-separated polymer solutions as a function of the degree of polymerizationN and the temperatureT, based partly on the mean-field approximation, had led toδ∼N −1/4(1−T/T c )3/2 for fixedN≫1 andT approaching the critical solution temperatureT c It is here remarked that the scaling procedure of de Gennes then modifies this toδ∼N −0.37(1−T/T c )1.26, which is in close accord with the experimentalδ∼N −0.44(1−T/T c )1.26. The simplest mean-field picture yieldsδ∼N −1/2(1−T/T c )3/2.
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Widom, B. Note on the interfacial tension of phase-separated polymer solutions. J Stat Phys 52, 1343–1351 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011651
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01011651