화학공학소재연구정보센터
Langmuir, Vol.13, No.21, 5751-5755, 1997
Critical-Point Wetting for Binary 2-Phase Polymer-Solvent Mixtures on Solid Interfaces
Cahn argued that the wetting temperature, T-W is always below the critical temperature, T-C, of a binary solvent mixture. A self-consistent field theory is used to show that this phenomenon is expected to be best observable for low molecular weight compounds. In polymer-solvent mixtures in contact with a rigid surface made of the same material as the polymer units, the difference T-W - T-C becomes minimal for an intermediate degree of polymerization N = N** (similar to 65). The polymer wets the surface for N < N**, whereas for larger N the solvent is at the wall. Critical wetting is the rule; first-order wetting is only found for relatively short chains, 2 less than or equal to N less than or equal to 16.