The diffusion of CO2, CH4, C2H4, and C3H8 in polyethylene at elevated pressures |
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Authors: | S S Kulkarni S A Stern |
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Abstract: | Diffusion and solubility coefficients have been determined for the CO2?, CH4?, C2H4?, and C3H8-polyethylene systems at temperatures of 5, 20, and 35°C and at gas pressures up to 40 atm. Diffusion coefficients were obtained from rates of gas absorption in polyethylene rods under isothermal-isobaric conditions by means of a new diffusivity apparatus. The concentration dependence of the diffusion coefficients was represented satisfactorily by Fujita's free-volume model, modified for semicrystalline polymers, while the solubility of all the penetrants in polyethylene was within the limit of Henry's law. Semiempirical correlations were found for the free-volume parameters in terms of physicochemical properties of the penetrant gases and the penetrant-polymer systems. These correlations, if confirmed, should permit the prediction of diffusion and permeability coefficients of other gases and of gas mixtures in polyethylene as functions of pressure and temperature. |
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