Interaction behaviour in a binary mixture of polymer particles

Abstract

The behaviour of small charge-stabilised particles (A, radius 168 Å) in the presence of larger particles (B, radius 510 Å) in 6 × 10⁻⁵ mol dm⁻³ sodium chloride solution has been investigated using small-angle neutron-scattering. The number concentration ratio, N _A/N _B, used was 15. The results indicated that the particles remained colloidally stable in the mixture but that some clustering of the smaller particles occurred in a “fluid-like” arrangement of the larger particles.