Journal article
A Mechanistic Model Describing the Degradation of Polymers
Journal of polymers and the environment, Vol.15(2), pp.75-80
04/2007
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/113254
Abstract
This study examined the cooperative effects of diffusion and reaction on the degradation of a polymer. The work was intended to describe bulk degradation processes, where the polymer volume remains nearly constant. Test coupons made from poly (2-ethyl 2-oxazoline) were immersed in water for controlled durations. The coupons were weighed before and after immersion in the wet and dried condition. The coupons were observed to gain weight for short immersion durations. At longer durations the weight change became negative as the solvent reacted with and dissolved the polymer. An average solvent concentration was found from the weight measurements. Fick’s law was used to express the increase in concentration while a first order reaction law was used to represent the decrease in concentration of the solvent. The competing changes in concentration were combined from which the net solvent concentration at any given time was obtained. The model was compared with the experimental measurements using coupons of various thicknesses. The model was found to describe the observed polymer degradation in water including thickness effects.
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Details
- Title
- A Mechanistic Model Describing the Degradation of Polymers
- Creators
- Ramachandran Mahadevan - School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Washington State University Pullman WA USALloyd Smith - School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Washington State University Pullman WA USA
- Publication Details
- Journal of polymers and the environment, Vol.15(2), pp.75-80
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
- Publisher
- Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; New York
- Identifiers
- 99900547439101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article