Spinodal Decomposition in Polymeric Systems

The characteristics of the phase separation in multicomponent systems in the region of unstable states are considered using the formal treatment of Cahn and Hilliard. The general theories of spinodal decomposition developed recently are briefly discussed. The characteristic features of systems based on high-molecular-weight components are analysed from the standpoint of phase separation using the Debye–van Aartsen relations. The theory of spinodal decomposition developed by de Gennes and Pincus for mixtures based on two homopolymers is examined in detail. The principal results obtained in experimental studies of phase separation of the liquid–liquid type in polymer–solvent and polymer–polymer systems are presented. The possibilities in the application of the concept of spinodal decomposition to a wider range of complex multicomponent systems as well as the results obtained recently by the authors of the review in the study of phase separation in systems of this kind are discussed. The attempts at the analysis of the spinodal decomposition phenomena within the framework of the non-linear thermodynamics of irreversible processes developed by Prigogine are considered. The bibliography includes 89 references.