Water permeation through elastomer laminates. IV. NBR/EPDM

The recent considerable interest in the transport and solubility properties of low‐molecular weight penetrants in elastomers arises largely because a number of important practical applications depend wholly or in part on such phenomena. These applications include various protective coatings, packaging materials, selective barriers for the separation of gas and liquid mixtures, biomedical devices, marine applications, etc. The behavior of small molecules in elastomers is strongly dependent on elastomer structure and morphology and any additives to the polymer; therefore, small molecules can be used as very sensitive probes to explore a polymer matrix, especially to gain information about its end applications.