Gravimetric and volumetric study of the sorption of gases and vapors in poly(vinyl chloride) powders

The sorption of a variety of gases and organic vapors in poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) powders has been studied gravimetrically with a recording microbalance and volumetrically with a gas pycnometer and an automatic surface area analyzer. For nitrogen, carbondioxide, vinyl chloride, methanol, acetone, n-butane, and benzene at low penetrant activities and temperatures below Tg, sorption isotherms exhibit the downward curvature characteristic of dual-mode sorption. The solubility of each of these penetrants is lower in heat-treated PVC samples than in samples recovered from the polymerization without additional heating. It has been possible to estimate the parameters of the dual-mode sorption model for carbondioxide, vinyl chloride, and methanol. The results indicate that the history-dependence of gas or vapor solubility is associated only with the “hole-filling” term of the dual-mode model; the normal dissolution or Henry's Law term is essentially unaffected by the prior heat treatment of the PVC.