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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/165159
Swelling thermodynamics and phase transitions of polymer gels
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We present a pedagogical review of the swelling thermodynamics and phase transitions of polymer gels. In particular, we discuss how features of the volume phase transition of the gel's osmotic equilibrium are analogous to other transitions described by mean-field models of binary mixtures, and the failure of this analogy at the critical point due to shear rigidity. We then consider the phase transition at fixed volume, a relatively unexplored paradigm for polymer gels that results in a phase-separated equilibrium consisting of coexisting solvent-rich and solvent-poor regions of gel. Again, the gel's shear rigidity is found to have a profound effect on the phase transition, here resulting in macroscopic shape change at constant volume of the sample, exemplified by the tunable buckling of toroidal samples of polymer gel. By drawing analogies with extreme mechanics, where large shape changes are achieved via mechanical instabilities, we formulate the notion of extreme thermodynamics, where large shape changes are achieved via thermodynamic instabilities, i.e.phase transitions
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DIMITRIYEV, Michael S., et al. Swelling thermodynamics and phase transitions of polymer gels. Nano Futures. 2019. Vol. 3, num. 4, pags. 042001. ISSN 2399-1984. [consulted: 10 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/165159