Experimental Study of Sorption and Diffusion of n-Pentane in Polystyrene.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Hajova, Hana; Chmelar, Josef; Nistor, Andra; Gregor, Tomas; Kosek, Juraj
- Source
- Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data. Apr2013, Vol. 58 Issue 4, p851-865. 15p.
- Subject
- *CHEMISTRY experiments
*SORPTION
*DIFFUSION
*THERMAL insulation
*PENTANE
*HEAT radiation & absorption
*POLYSTYRENE
- Language
- ISSN
- 0021-9568
Polystyrene (PS) foams are widespreadheat insulation and impactabsorption materials, but many blowing agents used in their productionare harmful to the environment. Pentane is a less harmful alternativeand is commonly used in the manufacturing of expandable PS, but thereare inadequate diffusion data of pentane in PS available in the literatureat conditions relevant to PS impregnation and foaming. We conductedgravimetric measurements of sorption dynamics of n-pentane in PS particles and thin films at temperatures from 45 to110 °C and pressures from 0 to 4.8 bar. The measured data werefitted using the Fick’s and case II diffusion models and theobtained transport parameters are presented together with an analysisof the dominant diffusion mechanism. We also present the Flory–Hugginsinteraction parameter for the PS + n-pentane systemand show that it can be used to accurately predict the sorption equilibria.This paper thus provides important parameters for the optimizationof PS foam production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]