Polymer Processing Institute

Measurement of Gas Solubility in Polymers
(A Batch Apparatus)

Solubility and diffusivity of gases in polymers are two important physical properties which determine the success of foaming a given polymer. These properties are also used to characterize the barrier property of the polymer in food packaging applications. Engineers at PPI have developed a unique method to measure these properties.

Custom designed high pressure vessels are used for off-line solubility measurements.  The gas solubility in a polymer is calculated by measuring the weight gain of the polymer samples after saturation time. Various thermodynamic models can be applied to correlate and predict the solubility data over wider range of pressure and temperature.
 
 


For example, the figure shows the solubility of CO2 in polypropylene (PP) at three different temperatures. The line shows the Henry’s law correlation for the data.
 
 

For more information, please contact

Dr. Niloufa Faridi

(973) 596-5665

faridi@polymers-ppi.org

 

 










visitors since April 30th, 2002