Diffusion of small molecules in glassy polymers

Small molecules in glassy polymers are considered to occupy sites with a distribution of free energies of dissolution. Then their diffusivity depends on concentration and temperature in the same way as it has been derived for hydrogen atoms in metallic glasses. For hydrogen it was shown that the tracer diffusion coefficient is proportional to the activity coefficient of the solute atoms. The latter can be evaluated from measured data of sorption of the small molecules in the polymer. Knowing this quantity, the thermodynamic factor can be calculated and the concentration dependence of the mutual diffusion coefficient is obtained in excellent agreement with published experimental results. New experimental results are presented for the diffusion coefficient of CO2 in Kapton and four polycarbonates (BPA-PC, BPZ-PC, TMBPA-PC, and TMC-PC) in the low CO2 pressure range of a few mbar up to 1 bar. The results are in agreement with the model developed for hydrogen. The reference diffusion coefficient, which is a fitting parameter of the model that is independent of the distribution of free energies is smallest for the polycarbonate BPZ-PC having a high gamma-relaxation temperature. This correlation between the diffusion coefficient and the dynamics of the polymer can be found for other substituted polycarbonates as well. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.