Volume dependence of thermal conductivity and isothermal bulk modulus up to 1 GPa for poly(vinyl acetate)

The thermal conductivity λ and heat capacity per unit volume of poly(vinyl acetate) (260 kg mol⁻¹ in weight average molecular weight) have been measured in the temperature range 150–450 K at pressures up to 1 GPa using the transient hot-wire method, which yielded λ = 0.19 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The bulk modulus K has been measured in the temperature range 150–353 K up to 1 GPa. At atmospheric pressure and room temperature, K = 4.0 GPa and (∂K/∂p)_T = 8.3. The volume data were used to calculate the volume dependence of λ, $g = - \left( {\frac{{\partial \lambda /\lambda }}{{\partial V/V}}} \right)_T .$ The values for g of the liquid and glassy states were 3.0 and 2.7, respectively, and g of the latter was almost independent of volume and temperature. Theoretical models can predict the value for g of the glassy state to within 25%. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 1451–1463, 1998