Polymer drying. III. Comparison of molecular desorption from poly(styrene‐co‐divinylbenzene) in the gel‐state and in the glass‐state

The results observed in 44 time‐studies that monitored evaporation from liquid‐saturated poly(Sty‐co‐DVB) particles enmeshed in poly(tetrafluoroethylene) microfibers under conditions that precluded decrease in area of the microporous composite film sample verified that after the enmeshed particles undergo transition from the gel‐state to the glass‐state, the number of residual ad sorbed molecules per phenyl group of polymer is given by a linear combination of n < 7 exponential decay functions, the first order rate constants of which are related to one another by the equation: log k i = log k 0 − mi , where m is characteristic of the polymer, and k 0 is characteristic of the sorbed liquid such that k 1 is about 10 5 times faster than k 6 . The results also show that k 1 of the set of nk i for desorption from poly(Sty‐co‐DVB) in the glass‐state is equal to k gel , the first‐order rate constant for desorption of the test‐liquid from that polymer in the gel‐state. These results are interpreted to mean that i , the identification number of the i th population, reflects the number of phenyl groups in the “host” polymer with which the “guest” volatile molecule is associated simultaneously as discussed in the text.