The calculations presented in this paper are based on the Sanchez-Lacombe(SL)lattice fluid theory.The interaction energy parameter,g12/k,required in this approach was obtained by fitting the cloud points of polystyrene(PS)/methylcyclohexane(MCH)polymer solutions under pressure.The SL lattice fluid theory was used to calculate the spinodals,the binodals,and the Flory-Huggins(FH)interaction parameter of the solutions.The calculated results show that the SL lattice fluid theory can describe the dependences of thermodynamics of PS/MCH solutions on temperature and pressure very well.However,the calculated enthalpy and the excess volume changes indicate that the Clausius-Clapeyron equation cannot be suitable to describe pressure effect on PS/MCH solutions.Further analysis on the thermodynamics of this system under pressure shows that the role of entropy is more important than the excess volume in the present case.
The melting and crystallization behaviors of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) ultra-thin films with thickness from 15 nm to 8 nm were studied by AFM technique equipped with a hot-stage in real-time. It was found that melting can erase the spherulitic structure for polymer film with high thickness. However, annealing above the melting point can not completely erase the tree-like structure for the thinner polymer film. Generally, the structure formation of thin polymer films of PCL is controlled not only by melting and crystallization but also by dewetting during thermal annealing procedures, and dewetting predominates in the structure formation of ultra-thin films. However, the presence of tree-like morphology at 75 °C may be due to the strong interaction between PCL and mica surface, which may stick the PCL chains onto the mica surface during thermal annealing process. Moreover, the growth of the dendrites was investigated and it was found that crystallization is followed from a dewetted sample, and the branches did not grow with the stems. The crystallization of polymer in the ultra-thin films is a diffusion-controlled process. Both melting and crystallization behaviors of PCL in thin films are influenced by film thickness.
