DIFFUSION OF MACROMOLECULES: A CONSTITUTIVE THEORY

Abstract

A constitutive diffusion theory for polymer solutions is proposed based on a thermomechanical mixture theory. A general expression for the diffusion flux in a binary polymer-solvent system is presented. It is shown that the current approach is capable of sorting out various complex diffusion phenomena. In particular, the dependence of the diffusion flux on a gradient of a generalized chemical potential emerges naturally by considering the limit of “weak equilibrium”.

KEYWORDS:

• Diffusion
• Macromolecules
• Polymer Theory of mixtures

Notes

†Submitted for publication by J. J. Ulbrecht.

‡Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.