Upper and lower critical solution temperatures for star branched polystyrene in cyclohexane

Abstract

Upper and lower critical solution temperatures have been measured for star polystyrene samples, with varying degrees of branching, dissolved in cyclohexane. The effect of branching on the phase separation of these solutions is small in the lower critical region but becomes significant in the upper critical region. In all cases branching tends to extend the solubility range for polystyrene in cyclohexane. This is accentuated when the degree of branching is high and also when the molecular weight is low.