Polymer Phasing Self-Organization of Order/Disorder Under Flow Fields

This book provides insight into underlying basic theories, concepts, and methodologies in polymer phasing under the applied flow field. Polymer phasing covers the self-organization of phase structures of polymer mixtures and solutions through phase transitions. The phase transitions include liquid-liquid (phase separation) and liquid-solid (crystallization) transitions. This book describes the roles of flow on the flow-induced shift of phase diagram and transition points as well as the flow-induced cascade evolution of flow-rate dependent dissipative structures controlled by a balance of the applied mechanical energy against the thermodynamic potential for the growth of structures. The methodology covers in-depth real-time, in-situ, simultaneous investigation of light scattering, optical microscopy, birefringence, light transmittance, and shear and normal stress. The basic principles and concepts described in this book may be also applied in general to soft matters. This book is an excellent resource for graduate students, academic researchers, and researchers in industries.

Introduction.- Flow induced Phase Transitions.- Methodology.- Flow Induced Mixing Dynamically Symmetric.- Flow Induce Demising Phase Separation.

Takeji Hashimoto received degrees from Kyoto University (BS, 1965 and MS, 1967) and from the University of Massachusetts (MS,1969 and PhD, 1971). He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 1971 in the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto Univ. and was promoted to full Professor in 1994. He was a director of the Hashimoto Polymer Phasing Project, ERATO, JST from 1993 to 1998. He was appointed as a group leader for the Project, “Neutron Scattering and Structure-Functionality of Soft Matters” at Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), JAEA from 2003 to 2005. Since his retirement from Kyoto Univ., in 2005, he has been Professor Emeritus of Kyoto Univ. and was appointed as a full-time researcher at ASRC, JAEA (2005 – 2008) as a group leader and as a Visiting Scientist at JAEA (2008 - 2015) and an Honorary Chair Professor, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan (2011 - 2016) and at National Chenkung University, Taiwan (2017 to 2019).

His research interests include elucidation of mechanism and dynamics of self-organization of molecular assemblies in multicomponent polymer systems via phase transitions and phase separation in the absence (equilibrium systems) and presence (non-equilibrium systems) of externally applied fields (“polymer phasing” and “mechanics of polymer assemblies”).

He published 600 original articles, 58 review articles and contributed to 44 books. He published two monographs, entitled ”Principles and Applications of X-ray, Light and Neutron Scattering” (one in Japanese, Kodansha, 2017 and the other in English, Springer, 2022). He published original articles in internationally renowned journals such as J. Chem. Phys., Phys. Rev. Letters, Rev. Sci. Instruments, Phys. Rev. B., Phys. Rev. E., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Langmuir, Macromolecules, J. Appl. Cryst., IUCrJ, Progr. Colloid Polym. Sci., Macromolecular Symposia, and so on.

He won award “High Polymer Physics Prize (Ford Prize)” from American Physical Society (March 1987); “Scattering techniques to the elucidation of phase and order disorder transitions in complex polymeric systems with particular emphasis on structure, morphology and kinetics”, and many other awards.