Polymer Science Commons^™

On The Importance Of Chain Reptation In Models Of Dissolution Of Glassy Polymers, Balaji Narasimhan, Nikolaos A. Peppas

Balaji Narasimhan

Polymer dissolution was described by chain reptation incorporated into penetrant transport. The penetrant concentration field was divided into three regimes which delineate three different transport processes. Solvent penetration through the polymer was modeled to occur as a consequence of a diffusional flux and an osmotic pressure contribution. Species momentum balances were written that coupled the polymer viscoelastic behavior with the transport mechanism. Transport in the second penetrant concentration regime was modeled to occur in a diffusion boundary layer adjacent to the rubbery-solvent interface, where a Smoluchowski type diffusion equation was obtained. The disentanglement rate of the polymer is given by …