PREDICTION OF MAXIMA AND MINIMA IN THE CURVE OF TOTAL SORPTION PARAMETER IN TERNARY POLYMER SYSTEMS - INFLUENCE OF TERNARY INTERACTION PARAMETER

Flory-Huggins theory modified by Pouchly has been applied to predict maxima and minima in the curve of total sorption in ternary polymer systems formed by a polymer and two liquids. In this work, different diagrams based on experimental magnitudes easily obtained such as the difference in affinities of liquids, solvents and non solvents, and the solvent molar volume ratio. Total sorption parameter has been considered to be the decisive magnitude to define extrema conditions in both cosolvent and cononsolvent ternary polymer systems. The theoretical prediction is not altered by the inclusion of ternary interactions. Different examples of ternary systems dealing with vinyl polymers and polydimethyl siloxane have been used to test the above formalism.