Transient and steady‐state permeation in poly(ethylene terephthlate) above and below the glass transition

Transient and steady‐state permeation data are reported for CO 2 in semicrystalline poly(ethylene terephthalate) for temperatures ranging from 25 to 115°C over the pressure range from 1 to 20 atm. The pressure dependency of the time lag and permeability disappears completely above the glass transition of the polymer, and Fick's law with a concentration‐independent diffusion coefficient applies. In the glassy state, a concentration‐dependent diffusion coefficient is necessary to describe the data. The form of this concentration dependence is described well by the partial immobilization transport model that attributes a different mobility to each of the two populations of sorbed gas which exist in local equilibrium with each other in glassy polymers. The importance of reporting the pressure used in transport experiments involving glassy polymers is emphasized by comparing the difference in the activation energy of the apparent diffusivity calculated from the measured time lag at 1 and 20 atm. Also, the magnitude of the observed slope discontinuity at T g in Arrhenius plots of these apparent diffusities is shown to be a function of the upstream pressure used in the experiment. The independently measured time lags are compared with the predicated values calculated from various transport models and found to be described best by the partial immobilization model.