Transport polymer systems

Robert Langer, Polymer Systems for Controlled Release of Macromolecules, Immobilized Enzyme Medical Bioreactors, and Tissue Engineering J. J. Linderman, P. A. Mahama, K. E. Forsten, and D, A. Lauffenburger, Diffusion and Probability in Receptor Binding and Signaling Rakesh K. Jain, Transport Phenomena in Tumors... 

In accordance with theoretical predictions of the dynamic properties of networks, the critical concentration of dextran appears to be independent of the molecular weight of the flexible polymeric diffusant although some differences are noted when the behaviour of the flexible polymers used is compared e.g. the critical dextran concentrations are lower for PEG than for PVP and PVA. For ternary polymer systems, as studied here, the requirement of a critical concentration that corresponds to the molecular dimensions of the dextran matrix is an experimental feature which appears to be critical for the onset of rapid polymer transport. It is noteworthy that an unambiguous experimental identification of a critical concentration associated with the transport of these types of polymers in solution in relation to the onset of polymer network formation has not been reported so far. Indeed, our studies on the diffusion of dextran in binary (polymer/solvent) systems demonstrated that both its mutual and intradiffusion coefficients vary continuously with increasing concentration 2. ... 

These authors were the first FGSE workers to make extensive use of the concept of free volume 42,44) and its effect on transport in polymer systems. That theory asserts that amorphous materials (liquids, polymers) above their glass transition temperature T contain unoccupied volume randomly distributed and in parcels of sufficient size to permit jumps of small molecules — and of polymer jumping segments — to take place. Since liquids have a fractional free volume fdil typically greater than that, f, of polymers, the diffusion rate both of diluent molecules and (uncrosslinked and unentangled) polymer molecules should increase with increasing diluent volume fraction vdi,. The Fujita-Doolittle expression 43) describes this effect quantitatively for the diluent diffusion ... 

Chikahisa (216) and Williams (217-219) have examined flow behavior in concentrated polymer systems without detailed consideration of the mechanism of intermolecular interaction. Williams explicitly limits his discussion to unentangled systems Chikahisa uses an entanglement terminology, although not in a specific way. Both approaches grow out of the formalism which was developed to deal with transport properties in small-molecule liquids. 

Permeability measurements for polymer blends prepared by mixing different latices have been reported by Peterson (14). Interpreting transport data for such heterogeneous systems as polymer blends is extremely difficult, however (3, 9,15). The main purpose of the present investigation is, therefore, to study the applicability of gas permeation measurements to characterize polymer blends and not to evaluate the different theoretical models for the permeation process in heterogeneous polymer systems. 

The concept of unrelaxed volume in glassy polymers is used to interpret sorption and transport data for pure and mixed penetrants A review of recent sorption and permeation data for mixed penetrants indicates that competition for sorption sites associated with unrelaxed gaps between chain segments is a general feature of gas/glassy polymer systems This observation provides convincing support for the use of the Langmuir isotherm to describe deviations from simple Henry s law sorption behavior. 

Eqs. (l)-(5) are still the basic sorption and transport equations used today for "ideal systems, penetrant-polymer systems in which both (Jo and Do are pressure and concentration independent. This "ideal" behavior is observed in sorption and transport of permanent and inert gases in polymers well above their Tg. 

Section IIA summarizes the physical assumptions and the resulting mathematical descriptions of the "concentration-dependent (5) and "dual-mode" ( 13) sorption and transport models which describe the behavior of "non-ideal" penetrant-polymer systems, systems which exhibit nonlinear, pressure-dependent sorption and transport. In Section IIB we elucidate the mechanism of the "non-ideal" diffusion in glassy polymers by correlating the phenomenological diffusion coefficient of CO2 in PVC with the cooperative main-chain motions of the polymer in the presence of the penetrant. We report carbon-13 relaxation measurements which demonstrate that CO2 alters the cooperative main-chain motions of PVC. These changes correlate with changes in the diffusion coefficient of CO2 in the polymer, thus providing experimental evidence that the diffusion coefficient is concentration dependent. 

Nonlinear, pressure-dependent solubility and permeability in polymers have been observed for over 40 years. Meyer, Gee and their co-workers (5) reported pressure-dependent solubility and diffusion coefficients in rubber-vapor systems. Crank, Park, Long, Barrer, and their co-workers (5) observed pressure-dependent sorption and transport in glassy polymer-vapor systems. Sorption and transport measurements of gases in glassy polymers show that these penetrant-polymer systems do not obey the "ideal sorption and transport eqs. (l)-(5). The observable variables,... 

A number of attempts have been made to explain the nonlinear, pressure-dependent sorption and transport in polymers. These explanations may be classified as "concentration-dependent (5) and "dual-mode (13) sorption and transport models. These models differ in their physical assumptions and in their mathematical descriptions of the sorption and transport in penetrant-polymer systems. 

Pressure-dependent sorption and transport properties in polymers can be attributed to the presence of the penetrant in the polymer. Crank (32) suggested in 1953 that the "non-ideal" behavior of penetrant-polymer systems could arise from structural and dynamic changes of the polymer in response to the penetrant. As the properties of the polymer are dependent on the nature and concentration of the penetrant, the solubility and diffusion coefficient are also concentration-dependent. The concentration-dependent sorption and transport model suggests that "non-ideal" penetrant-polymer systems still obey Henry s and Fick s laws, and differ from the "ideal" systems only by the fact that a and D are concentration dependent,... 

In the dual-mode sorption and transport model the pressure-dependence of a (= C/p), P and 0 in gas-glassy polymer systems arises from the pressure-dependent distribution of the sorbed gas molecules between Langmuir sites and Henry s law dissolution. Although k, Dg and are assumed to be constant, the average or effective solubility and diffusion coefficients of the entire ensemble of gas molecules change with pressure as the ratio of Henry s to Langmuir s population, C /C, changes continuously with pressure [eq. (14)]. 

Experimental results presented in this work and in the literature are inconsistent with the assumptions and the physical interpretations implicit in the dual-mode sorption and transport model, and strongly suggest that the sorption and transport in gas-glassy polymer systems should be presented by a concentration-dependent model ... 

Nonlinear, pressure-dependent sorption and transport of gases and vapors in glassy polymers have been observed frequently. The effect of pressure on the observable variables, solubility coefficient, permeability coefficient and diffusion timelag, is well documented (1, 2). Previous attempts to explain the pressure-dependent sorption and transport properties in glassy polymers can be classified as concentration-dependent and "dual-mode models. While the former deal mainly with vapor-polymer systems (1) the latter are unique for gas-glassy polymer systems (2). 

In the derivation of the simplified expressions for solubility and diffusion coefficients, eqs. (4) and (9), C was assumed to be small. This fact does not limit the usefulness of these expressions for high concentrations. We show below that sorption and transport expressions, eqs. (11) and (14), respectively, derived from the simplified equations retain the proper functional form for describing experimental data without being needlessly cumbersome. Of course, the values of the parameters in eqs. (4) and (9) will differ from the corresponding parameters in eqs. (3) and (8), to compensate for the fact that the truncated power series used in eqs. (4) and (9) poorly represent the exponentials when aC>l or 0C>1. Nevertheless, this does not hinder the use of the simplified equations for making correlation between gas-polymer systems. 

Subject areas for the Series include solutions of electrolytes, liquid mixtures, chemical equilibria in solution, acid-base equilibria, vapour-liquid equilibria, liquid-liquid equilibria, solid-liquid equilibria, equilibria in analytical chemistry, dissolution of gases in liquids, dissolution and precipitation, solubility in cryogenic solvents, molten salt systems, solubility measurement techniques, solid solutions, reactions within the solid phase, ion transport reactions away from the interface (i.e. in homogeneous, bulk systems), liquid crystalline systems, solutions of macrocyclic compounds (including macrocyclic electrolytes), polymer systems, molecular dynamic simulations, structural chemistry of liquids and solutions, predictive techniques for properties of solutions, complex and multi-component solutions applications, of solution chemistry to materials and metallurgy (oxide solutions, alloys, mattes etc.), medical aspects of solubility, and environmental issues involving solution phenomena and homogeneous component phenomena. 

Fig. 3 A protocell would have had a minimal set of functional properties, including self-assembly of boundary membranes, transport of monomers, and capture of energy to drive polymerization reactions, and encapsulation of polymer systems capable of growth...

Historically most of the microscopic diffusion models were formulated for amorphous polymer structures and are based on concepts derived from diffusion in simple liquids. The amorphous polymers can often be regarded with good approximation as homogeneous and isotropic structures. The crystalline regions of the polymers are considered as impenetrable obstacles in the path of the diffusion process and sources of heterogeneous properties for the penetrant polymer system. The effect of crystallites on the mechanism of substance transport and diffusion in a semicrystalline polymer has often been analysed from the point of view of barrier property enhancement in polymer films (35,36). 

Local density fluctuations occur in penetrant polymer systems both above and below Tg. It is then reasonable to expect that a free-volume diffusion model should also provide an adequate description of the diffusion of small penetrants in glassy polymers. To reach this goal the free-volume model for diffusion of small penetrants in rubbery polymers, second part of Section 5.1.1, was modified to include transport below Tg (64,65,72,91-93). 

Somewhat closer to the designation of a microscopic model are those diffusion theories which model the transport processes by stochastic rate equations. In the most simple of these models an unique transition rate of penetrant molecules between smaller cells of the same energy is determined as function of gross thermodynamic properties and molecular structure characteristics of the penetrant polymer system. Unfortunately, until now the diffusion models developed on this basis also require a number of adjustable parameters without precise physical meaning. Moreover, the problem of these later models is that in order to predict the absolute value of the diffusion coefficient at least a most probable average length of the elementary diffusion jump must be known. But in the framework of this type of microscopic model, it is not possible to determine this parameter from first principles . 

How much software development and computing time will be needed to predict the D for a penetrant polymer system not yet investigated In (120) it was stated that even the rather fast TSA simulation technique will presumably not lead to a fast predictability of transport paramaters for large numbers of hypotetical polymers in the near future. This was mainly atributed to the fact, that the construction of well equili-... 

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