Gas permeability and stability of poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne‐co‐1‐phenyl‐1‐propyne) membranes

Abstract

AbstractA significant reduction in the gas permeability of the poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne) (PMSP) membrane was investigated in terms of the membrane thickness and the storage environment. The effects of physical aging were observed with thinner membranes and under vacuum conditions compared with storage in air. The decrease in the permeability coefficient was dependent on the decrease in the hole saturation constant of Langmuir adsorption (C'H), which is related to the volume of the microvoids. Physical aging in the PMSP membrane affected not only the glassy domain but also the rubbery one. To stabilize the permeability of the PMSP membrane, a poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne‐co‐1‐phenyl‐1‐propyne) [poly(TMSP‐co‐PP)] membrane was prepared. Poly(TMSP‐co‐PP) has the same unit of poly(1‐phenyl‐1‐propyne), which membrane has stable permeability. The poly(TMSP‐co‐PP) with less than 20 mol % PP content was estimated to be a random copolymer based on theoretical gas permeation analysis. In the poly(TMSP‐co‐PP) membrane, the relation between the PP content and C'H was similar to the relation between the PP content and the gas permeability. The stability of the permeability was dependent on the PP content. The poly(TMSP‐co‐PP) membrane containing 10 mol % PP had both high permeability and good stability under some of the aging conditions performed in this work. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.