Water Sorption and Diffusion Through Linseed Oil Based Polymers and Nano-Composites
Vinay Sharma, J.S. Banait and P.P. Kundu
A new system of linseed oil based polymers is investigated for the sorption and diffusion studies in water. The kinetics of sorption is studied by using the equation of transport phenomena. The values of ‘n’ in transport equation are found to be between 0.5 and 1, indicating the non-Fickian diffusion in polymer. The dependence of diffusion coefficient on composition and temperature has been studied for all polymeric samples. The diffusion coefficient in cationic samples increases with an increase in the oil contents in the samples. In thermal samples, it decreases with an increase in oil contents. The nano-composite samples show less diffusion coefficient than pristine polymer and it decreases with an increasing amount of linseed oil. The diffusion coefficient increases with an increase in temperature for all polymer samples. The sorption coefficient shows a little change with variation in composition as well as temperature for all the samples and it is in a range of 1. The activation energy for diffusion and permeation is positive for all the samples. The heat of sorption is also positive for all the samples, indicating Henry type mode of sorption.
Keywords: Water transport, diffusion, sorption, linseed oil polymers, non-Fickian behavior, activation energy, heat of sorption