Kinetics of phase separation in polymer-solvent mixtures

Abstract

We investigate the kinetics of phase separation in systems with a strong asymmetry in the mobility. This simple model system mimics the segregation kinetics of polymer-solvent mixtures, where the polymer-rich phase forms a low-mobility gel. We obtain detailed numerical results for this model, both without and with thermal noise. In the absence of thermal noise, we find that domain growth is slowed down drastically when the low-mobility phase percolates the system. However, thermal noise restores rapid domain growth through a Brownian coalescence mechanism.