Modeling Sorption Kinetics of Carbon Dioxide in Glassy Polymeric Films Using the Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics Approach

The nonequilibrium thermodynamics of glassy polymers (NET-GP) approach (Macromolecules 2005, 38, 10299.) has been applied to the development of a one-dimensional transport model aimed at describing the kinetics of sorption and dilation of polymeric films in supercritical carbon dioxide. The NET-GP model was combined with a simple theological constitutive equation to build a sorption-diffusion-relaxation model able to describe mass uptake and swelling kinetics of polymeric films in contact with carbon dioxide over a wide range of pressures and temperatures. The model calculations are compared with data on mass sorption kinetics for CO2 in supported glassy poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films, measured in a high-pressure quartz crystal microbalance (QCM).