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The influence of relative humidity on polyarylate hydrolysis
Author(s) -
Golovoy A.,
Zinbo M.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1990.070390116
Subject(s) - relative humidity , hydrolysis , sorption , humidity , brittleness , chemistry , materials science , polymer chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , adsorption
The influence of relative humidity (RH), between 55 and 100%, on the rate of hydrolytic degradation of polyarylate was investigated at 100°C. The equilibrium water sorption in weight percent, C ∞ , was determined to be C ∞ = 0.0043 X (RH) 1.2 . For specimens 0.32 cm thick, it takes about 24 h to reach 0.9 C ∞ at 100°C. The decrease in molecular weight ( M̄ w ) due to the hydrolytic attack of water was linear with time, suggesting a zero‐order process with respect to M̄ w . The rate of decrease was found to be proportional to C ∞ . A 30% decrease in M̄ w was observed after 21 days at 55% RH and 100°C and, at that point, the material has become brittle.