The free volume in two untreated, pressure-densified, and CO2 gas exposed polymers from positron lifetime and pressure-volume-temperature experiments

Abstract

AbstractChanges in the microstructure of the free volume and its temperature dependence in ethylene-norbornene copolymer and bisphenol-A polycarbonate due to densification under pressure and swelling with CO2 gas have been examined using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and pressurevolume- temperature (PVT) experiments. Employing the Simha-Somcynsky equation of state the specific hole free and occupied volumes were estimated. From the PALS spectra analyzed with the new routine LT9.0 the size distribution of subnanometre holes and its mean and mean dispersion were calculated. Above Tg, the dispersion mirrors the thermal fluctuations in the free volume. From comparison of PALS and PVT data the specific number of holes was estimated. It was found that the occupied volume has a constant and identical compressibility in the glassy and rubbery state. It shows no memory for the history of the glass and mirrors only the pressure and temperature during the measurement. The change in the total volume due to the pre-treatments of the polymers occurs exclusively in the hole free volume Vf and the relative change in Vf is one order of magnitude larger than in the total volume. PALS data show that the mean hole size and its dispersion in the glassy state is decreased due to densification and increased due to swelling. PVT data show that the volume changes are frozen in the polymer glasses and that, when heating the samples, the volume begins to recover at temperatures ca. 50 K in gas swollen and 20 K in densified polymers below Tg. The PALS data show a corresponding behaviour.