Characterization of glassy state relaxations by low pressure carbon dioxide sorption in poly(methyl methacrylate)

Abstract

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres were swollen in methanol vapor, the swelling penetrant was quickly evacuated, and the subsequent relaxation of the polymer under vacuum was monitored by determination of the rate of settling of rapidly measured low pressure pseudoequilibrium CO₂ sorption isotherms. The decrease in CO₂ sorption capacity occurred very rapidly at short times, but the final stages of consolidation were protracted. In all cases, the microspheres were under vacuum between isotherm determinations. A single relaxation time is not sufficient to describe the relaxation processes characterized by the time‐dependent sorption measurements. The sorption relaxation curves are similar in shape to volume relaxation curves for glassy polymers following imposition of a large pressure or temperature step change. The observed similarity between the sorption relaxation curves and classical volume relaxation curves is consistent with the notion that the excess sorption capacity introduced by methanol preswelling results from excess unrelaxed volume introduced into the glass by the quickly removed alcohol. As the excess volume relaxes, the excess sorption capacity decreases. One can, therefore, monitor the subtle process of consolidation using CO₂ as a probe of the excess volume introduced by the swelling perturbation. Subatmospheric pressure CO₂ sorption isotherms measured between 20 and 40°C for two different diameter microsphere samples (5436 Å and 1453 Å) for pressures up to 700 mm Hg were concave to the pressure axis. Such general isotherm shapes can be described by a two‐term expression consisting of a Henry's law term and a Langmuir term. The Langmuir term, which arises due to unrelaxed volume in the nonequilibrium glass, is responsible for the observed concavity in the sorption isotherm. Annealing the sample, increasing the temperature of the sorption experiment closer to the T_g of the PMMA or permitting the preswollen sample to relax tends to reduce the concavity of the isotherm relative to the corresponding case for sorption in the preswollen sample measured at 25°C. This trend is presumably a consequence of the reduction in unrelaxed volume in the glass which attends either annealing, approaching the glass transition temperature of the polymer, or consolidation of excess volume following exposure to a swelling penetrant.