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Analysis of impurity migration in plastic containers
Author(s) -
Wang Fred H. L.,
Duda J. L.,
Vrentas J. S.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760200203
Subject(s) - impurity , thermal diffusivity , materials science , diffusion , container (type theory) , mass transfer , mass transport , partition coefficient , thermodynamics , composite material , chromatography , chemistry , engineering physics , physics , organic chemistry
The problem of the migration of impurities from plastic containers has been analyzed, and the effect of the outward diffusion of the container contents on the impurity migration has been considered. The system of equations describing the coupled diffusion problem has been solved using finite‐difference methods, and an analytical solution has been developed for the initial stages of the mass transfer process. It was found that the outward diffusion of the container contents can exhibit a large effect on the migration of impurity if the ratio of the diffusivity of the container contents to the diffusivity of the impurity exceeds 100. Sufficiently large values of this diffusivity ratio and of the impurity partition coefficient can minimize the buildup of undesirable impurities in the contents of a plastic container.