Polymer, Vol.34, No.24, 5149-5153, 1993
Validity of the Swelling Method for the Determination of the Interaction Parameter
By selecting solvents with a very weakly concentration-dependent interaction parameter chi with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and using experimental values of the elastic modulus of dry, end-linked PDMS networks, the Flory-Rehner theory and the phantom network assumption we obtained good agreement between the values of chi from equilibrium swelling and those obtained from intrinsic viscosity measurements on solutions of linear chains. The solvents used were 2,3-dimethylpentane and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane at 25-degrees-C.
Keywords:NETWORKS;VISCOSITY;BEHAVIOR;POLY(DIMETHYLSILOXANE);FUNCTIONALITY;EQUILIBRIUM;SOLVENT;SWOLLEN;RUBBER;GELS