Sorption and Gas Transport Characteristics of Polyimides Based on a Mixture of Diethyl Toluene Diamine Isomers

Abstract

The transport of oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrocarbons C1–C4 in polyimides based on 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) and biphenyl-3,3',4,4'-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (BPDA) and diethyl toluene diamine (DETDA) has been studied. The dependences of the diffusion coefficient on the diffusant effective diameter and the solubility coefficients on the Lennard–Jones potential of pair interaction have been considered. It is shown that the diffusion coefficients of butane are out of the linear dependence of the logarithm of the diffusion coefficient on the square of the effective diameter of the diffusant, which may indicate the plasticization of polymers with butane at a pressure of 1 atm. The permeability of mixtures of gases O2–N2 (29 : 71 v/v) and CO2–CH4 (62 : 38 v/v) has been studied. There are no significant differences in the gas separation parameters in comparison with the experiment for individual gases; however, for a mixture of CO2–CH4, a slight increase in the separation factor has been found as compared to the ideal selectivity. The data on the measurement of sorption isotherms and solubility coefficients O2, N2, and CH4 are also presented in the article. Gas solubility coefficients have been found to be close to the values obtained indirectly as P/D.