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QCMP077. FLORYSWELL: Solution of Flory's Equation for
the Equilibrium Swelling of a Network Polymer
by Christopher S. Coughlin and Kenneth A.
Mauritz, Department of Polymer Science,
University ofSouthern Mississippi,
Hattiesburgh, Mississippi 39406
This is a program that will solve,
interactively, Flory's most general equation
for the swelling of network polymers1. The
program can solve, assuming either an
imperfect or a "perfect" (i.e., infinite
molecular weight) network, for any of three
important parameters (-Mc, the molecular
weight between crosslinks; 2-Chi, the
polymer/sorbant interaction parameter; and 3-
W1, the weight fraction of sorbant at
equilibrium (swelling for range a of Chi and
molar volume of sorbant), for any
network/sorbant system, given the other
material parameters of the system. These
parameters include the densities of polymer
and sorbant at the temperature of interest,
the molar volume of the sorbant, the initial
volume fraction of network fixed polymer, the
polymer's primary molecular weight, and the
functionality of the network junctions.
Given the densities of both polymer and
sorbant, the program can also easily convert
to and from weight and volume fraction of
sorbant or polymer, a useful feature for
converting experimental results to the units
necessary for the calculations.
Note that Flory's equation is not concerned
with how the cross links are formed, which
makes it useful for a wide variety of
systems--from "classically" cross-linked
systems such as vulcanized natural rubber to
systems like PVC where crystallites present
act as virtual cross links. FLORYSWELL
should be of use in characterizing polymer
network/sorbant systems for a number of
important system parameters.
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Reference:
1. P. J. Flory, J. Chem. Phys., 18, 108
(1950).
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Borland TURBO PASCAL (v. 3.01 or later)
Lines of Code: 700
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