Dilation of poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne] during sorption of n-nonane

The linear expansion and contraction in the principal planar directions of poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne] film were measured concurrently with the sorption of n-nonane at 35°C. After the first sorption cycle, in which the polymer exhibited markedly nonisotropic volumetric dilation, the polymer expanded and contracted reproducibly during subsequent multiple sorption and desorption cycles. These reversible dilation isotherms were reproducible from sample to sample. The fractional change in length was identical in arbitrarily selected, orthogonal directions in the plane of the film, suggesting that the expansion and dilation of the sample are isotropic. When plotted versus the activity of n-nonane, the linear expansions in the plane of the film are slightly concave to the activity axis, reaching levels over 10% at the highest activities. The experimental partial specific volume of the polymer is near its pure component value but that of the penetrant is much less than its pure component value. Moreover, the magnitude of dilation observed is described rather closely by the dilation which would result solely from the Henry's law portion of sorption, assuming zero volume-change of mixing. These results are consistent with the explicit notions of “hole-filling” associated with the Langmuir mode in the dual-mode model. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.