title: Study of volume swelling and interfacial tension of the polystyrene-carbon dioxide-dimethyl ether system.
abstract: We investigated the interaction of blended carbon dioxide (CO2) and dimethyl ether (DME) with polystyrene (PS) through volume swelling and interfacial tension. The experiments were carried out over a temperature range of 423-483 K, and the pressure was varied from 6.89 MPa to 20.68 MPa. With an incremental concentration of DME in the blend, the volume swelling increased while the interfacial tension between the PS/blend gas mixture and the blend gas decreased. The validity of the Simha-Somcynsky (SS) equation of state (EOS) for the ternary system was established by comparing experimentally measured volume swelling to that obtained via SS-EOS.
authors.affiliation: Microcellular Plastic Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.affiliation: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: Microcellular Plastic Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Microcellular Plastic Manufacturing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: park@mie.utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Park
keywords: Interfacial tension; Nucleation; Plasticizing; Simha–Somcynsky EOS; Ternary mixture system; Volume swelling