A Thorny Problem? Spinodal Decomposition in Polymer Blends

Two-dimensional Cahn–Hilliard simulations for coarsening kinetics of spinodal decomposition in binary mixtures

“…From the linear analysis of the Cahn-Hilliard equation the time needed for the SD to take place t 0 , and the initial characteristic size L 0 of the separated phases can be calculated as 23,78…”

“…Coarsening of the morphology is therefore expected to have a significant impact on the material properties. Hence, coarsening is a long lasting subject of interest, mostly investigated together with SD in binary systems with experimental methods [7][8][9][10] , numerical simulations [11][12][13][14][15][16] , analytical models 1,17,18 and still an active area of research [19][20][21][22][23][24] . Being able to predict the actual time-dependent average domain size or characteristic length scale L(t) is crucial for understanding the morphology-property relationship.…”

Machine learning real space microstructure characteristics from scattering data

“…Dimensionless variables, which provide a link between the simulation and experimental length and time scales, must be defined before the normalisation procedure can be applied to experimental data. Once this has been done, the value of L can be calculated from the sample and the physical spatial discretisation, and the value of N can be calculated from equation (3). It follows that the normalisation procedure can only be justifiably applied to experimental data in the case where the assumptions underpinning the relationship in equation (3) hold.…”

“…In contrast, scattering experiments (light, X-ray or neutron) are powerful techniques which offer the opportunity to undertake real time measurements at a wide range of length-scales, from nanometres to microns, during microstructure evolution 3 . The challenge in dealing with scattering data is that although modelfree length scales can often be inferred directly from the peaks, for example, the extraction of other features is dependent on an appropriate choice of model to fit the data.…”

Impact of the prequench state of binary fluid mixtures on surface-directed spinodal decomposition

“…The kinetics of phase separation in binary fluid mixtures has attracted interest in the scientific community for a very long time, yet many aspects of this process remain unclear. For example, what precisely the impact is of hydrodynamics, thermal fluctuations, the quenching protocol, or the presence of a confining surface, is not all that well understood in spite of all this attention [1]. Apart from scientific interest, the theoretical investigation of phase separation kinetics is currently also inspired by a wide range of technological applications that include membrane fabrication and plastic electronics such as organic photovoltaics [2][3][4][5][6].…”