| Abstract: | The gas permeation characteristics of poly(silamine) membrane, which consists of alternating 3,3-dimethyl-3-silapentane and N,N′-diethylethylenediamine units in the main chain, were investigated. Though poly(silamine) shows high flexibility (glass transition temperature of ?88°C), the gas permeabilities were much lower than those of other rubbery polymers such as poly(dimethylsiloxane) and natural rubber. The activation energies of diffusion in poly(silamine) were much higher than that of natural rubber. On the basis of these results, we propose a model such that the interaction between the Si atom and gas molecules (O2 and N2) prevents the free diffusion of the gas molecule in the poly(silamine) membrane. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
