The effect of cold work on the transport of liquid methanol in crosslinked PMMA disks has been determined at temperatures from 35–56°C. Deformed samples absorb at fast rates with kinetics that approach those of Fickian diffusion. Undeformed samples sorb at lower rates and the kinetics tend toward those of Case II transport. Shape recovery accompanied swelling in deformed samples. Samples saturated with methanol were desorbed in cyclohexanol. Resorption of desorbed samples showed fast rates for both deformed and undeformed samples and matched those of the absorption cycle in deformed samples. An analogy is made between the microstructure due to cold work and due to swelling.

Crack healing in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by methanol treatment at 40°C–60°C has been investigated. It is found that the methanol treatment reduces the glass transition temperature in PMMA. Crack healing only occurs at an operating temperature higher than the effective glass transition temperature. There are two distinctive stages for crack healing based on the recovery of mechanical strength. The first stage corresponds to the progressive healing due to wetting, which has a constant crack closure rate at a given temperature. Immediately following the first stage, the second stage corresponding to diffusion enhances the quality of healing behavior. The surface morphologies obtained during healing and after fracture tests confirm these two stages. By comparing the fracture stress with the fractography, the fracture surface for stage I of crack healing is coplanar to the original crack surface. On the other hand, the original crack surface is destroyed in stage II of crack healing. It occurs in the region incorporating the original healed surface and appears to be like the Virgin fracture surface. It is also found that the tensile fracture stress of PMMA treated by methanol can recover to that of the virgin material. In addition, it is interesting to find that after sustained methanol treatment, the “snake bone” phenomenon on the fracture surface emerges.

The crack healing induced by ethanol in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been studied at temperatures of 40–60°C. Crack healing occurs because the effective glass transition temperature of PMMA is reduced to below the test temperature by ethanol plasticization. It is found that crack closure rate is constant at a given temperature. The fracture strength of healed PMMA is lower than that of the original samples. By comparing the fracture stress with the morphology of the crack edge on the PMMA surface, we found that a high degree of swelling is responsible for the incomplete recovery of mechanical strength. The fractography of the completely healed sample shows a very different fracture morphology from that of virgin PMMA. The transport of ethanol in PMMA also is studied. At lower temperatures, transport is described by ideal Case II behavior. As the temperature increases, the kinetics shift from ideal Case II to anomalous behavior. The first stage of crack healing is controlled by Case I transport. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The diffusion of ink in water was investigated. Both stamp ink and Quink blue ink were chosen for the analysis. The displacement of the diffused ink front was measured at temperatures of 10–30 °C. The experimental data of the ink front were in good agreement with the theory of diffusion. The diffusion coefficients satisfy the Arrhenius plot, and the activation energy is smaller for the Quink blue ink than for the stamp ink. The mechanism of the ink diffusion is explained by the kinetics of viscous flow.

The effect of chemical stress on diffusion in a hollow cylinder for plane strain and zero axial force has been investigated. Two diffusion processes of constant surface stress and constant surface potential are studied. No matter what the plane strain or zero axial force is the influence of chemical stress on the diffusion process of constant surface potential is similar to that of constant surface stress. Chemical stress enhances both the diffusion coefficient and the concentration. For a given time, the level of concentration becomes lower with a greater ratio of outer radius to inner radius for constant surface potential with given FXf and for constant surface stress with given FXi. F=2EV̄/[9(1−v)RT] where E, V̄, R, and T are the Young’s modulus, partial molal volume, gas constant, and absolute temperature, respectively; Xi and Xf are the initial and final mole fractions at boundary surfaces. The results are also compared with those in thin plates and solid cylinders reported in the literature.