Determination of the Hansen solubility parameters and the Hansen sphere radius with the aid of the solver add-in of Microsoft Excel

• DOI: 10.1007/s42452-020-2512-y
• Publication Date: 2020-03-17T12:02:31Z
• Authors: Manuel Díaz de lo...; Eduardo Hernández...
• Keywords: Solver; Microsoft excel

This paper describes the use Excel’s Solver of Microsoft and desirability function for the determination of Hansen’s solubility parameters (HSPs). The Excel’s solver is powerful while at the same time being user-friendly and easy to comprehend. Results of HSPs for different polymers and oils were evaluated and compared with the results obtained by the use of other tools; no significant differences were found between the Microsoft Excel solution and either the professional program HSPiP or other software platform used by different authors. Improvements introduced in the Excel book developed by Steven Abbott for this purpose, by the inclusion of some restrictions and functions, allow simultaneously optimizing the diameter of the Hansen sphere together with the determination of Hansen’s parameters, so that a tool, available to professional and researcher, can be used for these determinations with a high degree of precision, using any of the nonlinear optimization algorithms available in the Solver add-in. Finally, it is illustrated how the use of programming in Excel VBA can lead to a friendly interface for these determinations.