Book Review: CRC Handbook of Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamic Data of Copolym... Page 1 of 5
Book Review: CRC Handbook of Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamic Data of Copolymer Solutions by Materials Views Staff published: 2011-10-20
CRC Handbook of Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamic Data of Copolymer Solutions Hardcover 551 pages November 2010 US $249.95
Reviewed by Richard J. Spontak of the Departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering North Carolina State University
This book is another in a series of data compilations published by the author under the CRC Handbook series. In fact, the title suggests that the book constitutes a concerted effort to bring together in one source data provided in his other handbooks. For this alone, researchers involved in the study or formulation of copolymer solutions should be immensely grateful. The experience of the author shines throughout this book, and it becomes clear that he is keenly interested in scouring and digesting the literature with the objective of collecting and categorizing copolymer solution data.
The author starts the book by explaining how measurements were conducted to yield the data tabulated in the book. As an instructor of thermodynamics, I am particularly pleased to see this section, since the experimental means by which thermodynamic data are collected can often be as important as the actual data. He methodically explains his nomenclature, which, although sometimes a little awkward. is used in consistent fashion. In this same vein, the references are arranged according to a rather unorthodox classification scheme, but the scheme is nonetheless facile to navigate.
In the next chapter, the author introduces the reader to vapor-liquid equilibria and gas solubilities involving copolymer solutions. Each system listed is complete in terms of the copolymer (including composition), solvent (including CAS number and molecular formula), reference, and data. Although the author does not, regrettably, provide relevant theories regarding polymer solutions (he does, however, give references for such in Chapter 1), the VLE data he has tabulated can be readily incorporated into theories for rational extension to other experimental conditions. In many cases, the data of interest have been published in graphical form, and the author points to these references for the interested reader. It would have been preferable if the author accumulated these graphs and then scanned and categorized them in an on-line repository. In identical manner as the binary solutions, the author introduces ternary and higher-order solutions, as well as difficult-to-find Henry's constants.
The formatting used in Chapter 2 is followed in subsequent chapters devoted to the following topics:
Chapter 3: liquid-liquid equilibrium data Chapter 4: high-pressure fluid phase equilibrium data
http://www.materialsviews.com/details/newsI13 75995/Book_Review_ CRC_Handbook_0... 10/20/2011
Book Review: CRC Handbook of Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamic Data of Copolym... Page 2 of 5 Chapter 5: enthalpy change data Chapter 6: pressure-volume-temperature data Chapter 7: second vi rial coefficient data
While the liquid-liquid equilibrium data are indeed useful, inclusion of high-pressure fluid phase equilibrium data is much appreciated due largely to the scarcity and dispersion of such data throughout the literature. The enthalpy and PVT data are valuable resources alone and in conjunction with various models that can provide predictive guidance at the user's experimental conditions. The second vi rial coefficients are likewise useful for a variety of calculations (discussed by the author in Chapter 1), but it would have been beneficial to show how A2. relates to X or even provide a separate listing for corresponding values of X. The author ensures that the casual reader interested in finding particular data can easily find the data by cross listing all relevant search descriptions in the appendices.
After thoroughly examining this handbook, I am grateful that I shall not have to search various literature sources again to find the data I need in the laboratory or in the classroom. Wohlfarth's CRC Handbook of Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamic Data of Copolymer Solutions is a welcome addition to the author's previous compilations and holds a wealth of information that researchers working with copolymer solutions simply must have available systematically categorized at their fingertips. Even with the very picayunish weak points alluded to earlier, this handbook is an excellent companion to the Polymer Handbook and, as such, rightfully belongs on the shelf of every researcher who maintains an interest in copolymer solutions for academic or technological reasons.
Sign up for the MaterialsViews.com weekly newsletter now for the chance to win a copy of "Concepts of Nanochemistry"!
Morphology Matters: The Effect of Processing on Solar Cells
• ,--__________---, Polymer International - IUPAC Award 2012 Nominations Closing
•
' - -_ _ _ _ _ _--1
RAFT Polymerization: New Mechanistic Insight by Direct Integration of Equations
http://www.materialsviews.com/details/news/1375995/Book_Review_ CRC_Handbook_0... 10/20/2011