Correlation between Gas Solubility and Critical Temperature in Gas Charged Polymer Specimen
Polymeric materials are extensively utilized in various industrial applications, including as gas barriers, fuel cells, sensors, and in semiconductor processes, and are particularly critical to ensure sealing performance in high-pressure gas systems. The diffusivity and solubility of gases within polymers significantly influences their sealing efficacy and is closely related not only to polymer–gas interactions but also to the thermodynamic properties of the gases. Notably, gas solubility exhibits a quantitative correlation with critical temperature, attributed to the condensability of the gas molecules. In this study, the solubility of five pure gases (H2, He, N2, O2, Ar) with varying critical temperatures was quantitatively measured and analyzed under high-pressure conditions (1-10 MPa) in four polymers differing in structure and density. The experiments employed both volumetric and manometric methods to measure gas desorption concentration, with meticulous corrections for minor temperature and atmospheric pressure variations to ensure data accuracy. The results demonstrated that the logarithmic solubility of gases in polymers increases linearly with the gas critical temperature, consistent across all polymer samples. This finding aligns with predictions from the Non-Equilibrium Lattice Fluid (NE-LF) model, which has been shown to accurately describe gas solubility behavior in glassy polymers.