Experimental determination of the temperature–concentration diagram of flexible polymer solutions by neutron scattering

Abstract

Using the neutron scattering technique, we have measured the temperature dependences of the characteristic correlation lengths in semidilute polymer solutions in the vicinity of the theta (Θ) point. From the analysis of the data in the Guinier range, with a sample containing a few labeled chains, we find that the radius of gyration R_g has the dependence R_g∼τ^0.125±0.005, where τ is the reduced temperature (T−Θ)/Θ. The scattering experiment from unlabeled samples, in the intermediate range of the momentum transfer, shows a decrease of the screening length ξ, ξ∼τ^{−0.25±0.01}. These two dependences are in agreement with a recent calculation [M. Daoud and G. Jannink, J. Phys. (Paris) (to be published)] based on de Gennes’s theory that the theta temperature is in fact a tricritical point. A scaling law in molecular weight and concentration is tested below Θ. A temperature concentration diagram is drawn with the above mentioned experimental results.