ON THE EVALUATION OF THE ANISOTROPIC-ISOTROPIC TRANSITION VOLUME FRACTION FOR A SEMIRIGID POLYMER

It has been found that a method allowing the calculation of an anisotr opic-isotropic transition volume fraction for a given semirigid polyme r can be derived from the equations recently proposed by Blonski and c oworkers to evaluate the equilibrium compositions of isotropic and ani sotropic phases coexisting within ternary systems semirigid polymer/fl exible polymer/solvent. By using the term anisotropic-isotropic transi tion volume fraction of a semirigid polymer we will refer to its small est volume fraction giving an anisotropic character to liquid ternary phases also including a flexible polymer and a solvent. Its evaluation simplifies the construction of the corresponding ternary diagram and can also be seen as a fast and quantitative way of estimating the infl uence exerted by the semirigid polymer, through its intrinsic anisotro py, on ternary phases.