Phase transition kinetics of aqueous hydroxypropyl cellulose solution was studied by using turbidimetric monitoring and mathematical modelling techniques. Based on the nonlinear Cahn-Hilliard equation with a mobility depending on the component concentration, the phase separation has been modeled on a simple one-dimensional Flory lattice. For value set of the interfacial energy parameter, data were obtained on the changing of the average values of the cluster sizes, their mass and concentration.

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... The simulation results allow us to distinguish three stages of the spinodal decomposition: early, intermediate and final. It was found that for the intermediate stage, the kinetics of the cluster mass growth is described by a dependence that is characteristic of the usual diffusion mass transfer; the change in the average cluster size can be represented by a scaling function with an exponent close to 1/3, typical of the systems with a conserved scalar order parameter. It is shown that the concentration of clusters at the final stage is determined by the temperature dependence of the interfacial energy.