Interaction of crosslinked ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer blends with chlorinated organic penetrants

The sorption and diffusion of halogenated hydrocarbon penetrants through different ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM) blends, such as EPDM/ natural rubber, EPDM/bromobutyl rubber, and EPDM/styrene butadiene rubber (50/50 w/w), were studied. The diffusion coefficient of halogenated penetrants fell in the range 1.5-14.52 X 10(-7) cm(2)/s in the temperature range of 2560degreesC. Transport data were affected by the nature of the interacting solvent molecule rather than its size and also by the structural variations of the EPDM blends. 1,2-Dichloroethane showed a lower mass uptake compared to other penetrants. The temperature dependence of the transport coefficient was used to estimate the activation parameters, such as the activation energy of diffusion (E-D) and the activation energy of permeation (E-P) from Arrhenius plots. The activation parameters for E-D of aliphatic chlorinated organic penetrants was in the range 7.27-15.58 kJ/mol. These values fell in the expected range for rubbery polymers, well above their glass-transition temperature. Also, the thermodynamic parameters, such as enthalpy and entropy, were calculated and fell in the range 2-15 kJ/mol and 3-54 J/mol/K, respectively. Both first- and second-order transport kinetics models were used to investigate the transport kinetics, and first-order kinetics were followed. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.