Fluid-fluid phase separation in colloid-polymer mixtures studied with small angle light scattering and light microscopy

Nynke A.M. Verhaegh, Jeroen S. van Duijneveldt, Jan K.G. Dhont and Henk N.W. Lekkerkerker

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 1996, vol. 230, issue 3, 409-436

Abstract: Mixtures of colloidal silica spheres and polydimethylsiloxane in cyclohexane with a colloid-polymer size ratio of about one were found to phase separate into two fluid phases, one which is colloid-rich and one which is colloid-poor. In this work the phase separation kinetics of this fluid-fluid phase separation is studied for different compositions of the colloid-polymer mixtures, and at several degrees of supersaturation, with small angle light scattering and with light microscopy. The small angle light scattering curve exhibits a peak that grows in intensity and that shifts to smaller wave vector with time. The characteristic length scale that is obtained from the scattering peak is of the order of a few μm, in agreement with observations by light microscopy. The domain size increases with time as t13, which might be an indication of coarsening by diffusion and coalescence, like in the case of binary liquid mixtures and polymer blends. For sufficiently low degrees of supersaturation the angular scattering intensity curves satisfy dynamical scaling behavior.

Date: 1996
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:230:y:1996:i:3:p:409-436

DOI: 10.1016/0378-4371(96)00145-8

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