| Abstract: | Water sorption and transport properties for a series of polysulfones are presented and interpreted in terms of the changes in the structure of the repeat unit compared to that of bisphenol A polysulfone. The differences between the sorption and diffusion of water and of permanent gases in these materials are also discussed. Water has the ability to interact with the polymer and with itself through hydrogen bonding in a way that permanent gases cannot. The equilibrium solubility of water in the polymer, unlike permanent gases, does not have a simple dependence on free volume but correlates more strongly with the frequency of hydrogen bonding sites on the polymer. Analysis of the sorption isotherms using the method of Zimm and Lundberg suggests that water molecules cluster in these polysulfones to various extents. For each polysulfone except polyethersulfone, the water diffusion coefficient decreases with increasing activity, which also suggests water clustering. For most of these materials, the water diffusion coefficient is larger than that of bisphenol A polysulfone and is directly related to the polymer free volume. Water permeability in these materials broadly correlates with the polymer free volume, but a favorable water-polymer interaction can be an overriding factor. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
