Water permeation through elastomer laminates

Abstract

Neoprene and EPDM elastomers were used to measure the permeation rates of distilled water and salt water at 23°, 40° and 60 °C. For laminates, the rates were measured in both directions. The laminates showed a directional dependence of permeation rate and rates lower than the arithmetic mean of the two single layers. Effect of temperature on permeation rate had an Arrhenius type behavior and the activation energies fall within the range for those membranes that follow activated transport mechanism. Tentative mechanisms were proposed for the directional flow behavior in regard to concentration‐dependent permeation.