Effects of elasticity on drying processes of polymer solutions.
Drying processes of polymer solutions on a solid substrate are studied, based on the two-fluid model for polymer solutions or gels. A simplified model which can describe a skin formation process is proposed to examine the diffusion process of polymers and the evaporation process of solvent. The authors show that when a skin (gel phase) is formed, the collective diffusion coefficient is greatly enhanced whereas the evaporation of solvent is considerably reduced. These two results originate from the bulk elasticity of polymer gels.
Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo and CREST-JST, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Tohru
T
Okuzono
Masao
M
Doi