Phase separation dynamics: Comparison of experimental results

Experimental evidence suggests that phase separation dynamics are insensitive to the molecular details of the system. If time and length are properly scaled, using only experimental data, superposition of phase separation data from metallic alloys, inorganic glasses, small molecule systems, and polymer blends is obtained. An empirical equation, gm=τ−ln(1+aτ)/ln(τ), where a=0.05, fits the observed data. It is also shown that power law relations which have been widely applied to describe the time behavior of the structure factor are experimentally valid over only narrow time windows are not applicable throughout the entire phase separation process.