ABSTRACT
Solubility parameters have found their greatest use in the coatings industry to aid in the selection of solvents. They are used in other industries, however, to predict compatibility of polymers, chemical resistance, and permeation rates, and even to characterize the surfaces of pigments, fibers, and fillers. Liquids with similar solubility parameters will be miscible, and polymers will dissolve in solvents whose solubility parameters are not too different from their own. The basic principle has been “like dissolves like.” More recently, this has been modified to “like seeks like,” as many surface characterizations have also been made, and surfaces do not (usually) dissolve. Solubility parameters help put numbers into this simple qualitative idea. This chapter describes the tools commonly used in Hansen solubility parameter (HSP) studies. These include liquids used as energy probes and computer programs to process data. The goal is to arrive at the HSP for interesting materials either by calculation or, if necessary, by experiment and preferably with agreement between the two.
