Thermally induced phase separation in levitated polymer droplets

Pathak, Binita and Xavier, Priti and Bose, Suryasarathi and Basu, Saptarshi (2016) Thermally induced phase separation in levitated polymer droplets. In: PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 18 (47). pp. 32477-32485.

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Abstract

We report thermally induced rapid phase separation in PS/PVME polymer blends using a unique contact free droplet based architecture. De-mixing of homogeneous blends due to inter component dynamic asymmetry is aggravated by the externally supplied heat. Separation of polymer blends is usually investigated in the bulk which is a tedious process and requires several hours for completion. Alternatively, separation in droplet configuration reduces the process timescale by about 3-5 orders due to a constrained micron-sized domain fast processing and high throughput] while maintaining similar separation morphologies as in the bulk. We observed the effect of heating rates on the phase separation length and timescales. Furthermore, the separation length scale can be precisely controlled across one order by simply tuning the heating rate. The methodology can be scaled up for applications ranging from surface patterning to pharmaceutics.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY, THOMAS GRAHAM HOUSE, SCIENCE PARK, MILTON RD, CAMBRIDGE CB4 0WF, CAMBS, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2017 05:33
Last Modified:	31 Jan 2017 05:33
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/56168

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