Influence of ion-irradiation on the free volume controlled diffusion process in polycarbonate—a positron lifetime study

Investigation of Transport Mechanism and Nanostructure of Nylon-6,6/PVA Blend Polymers

A casting technique was used to prepare poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blend polymers with different concentrations of Nylon-6,6 to increase the free-volume size and control the ionic conductivity of the blended polymers. The thermal activation energy for some blends is lower than that of pure polymers, indicating that their thermal stability is somewhere in between that of pure Nylon-6,6 and pure PVA. The degree of crystallinity of the blend sample (25.7%) was lower than that of the pure components (41.0 and 31.6% for pure Nylon-6,6 and PVA, respectively). The dielectric properties of the blended samples were investigated for different frequencies (50 Hz-5 MHz). The σ_ac versus frequency was found to obey Jonscher's universal power law. The calculated values of the s parameter were increased from 0.53 to 0.783 for 0 and 100 wt.% Nylon-6,6, respectively, and values less than 1 indicate the hopping conduction mechanism. The barrier height (Wm) was found to increase from 0.33 to 0.72 for 0 and 100 wt.% Nylon-6,6, respectively. The ionic conductivity decreases as the concentration of Nylon-6,6 is blended into PVA because increasing the Nylon-6,6 concentration reduces the number of mobile charge carriers. Positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) spectroscopy was used to investigate the free volume's nanostructure. The hole volume size grows exponentially with the concentration of Nylon-6,6 mixed with PVA. The Nylon-6,6/PVA blends' free-volume distribution indicates that there is no phase separation in the blended samples. Mixing PVA and Nylon-6,6 resulted in a negative deviation (miscible blends), as evidenced by the interaction parameter's negative value. The strong correlation between the free-volume size and other macroscopic properties like ionic conductivity suggests that the free-volume size influences these macroscopic properties.

Free Volume Micro Probe Study of Silver Ions Implanted in Polycarbonate

Positron lifetime, UV-VIS absorption and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) measurements were performed on pristine polycarbonate (PC) and Ag2+-ion-implanted polycarbonate before and after isochronal annealing treatment. UV absorption results indicated the formation of silver clusters in the polymer matrix. The cluster sizes and number of atoms in these clusters were evaluated from UV results. DSC scans for the sample before and after implantation revealed the diffusion of silver ions in the matrix. Further, these results reveal that the Tg of the implanted PC decreased from its pristine value before annealing whereas it increased after annealing. This was inferred to be due to the formation of cross-links by Ag2+ ions when implanted but after annealing, the cross-link seemed to decrease, which resulted in increased diffusion. Positron results as a function of annealing temperature revealed that small size clusters may have been formed in the available free volume and there was migration of silver atoms in the polymer matrix due the rearrangement of the polymer chains. From the positron results the activation energy for the diffusion of silver atoms was determined to be 0.6 eV.

Diffusion of permanent liquid dye molecules in human hair investigated by positron lifetime spectroscopy

The diffusion behavior of a commercial permanent liquid hair dye in human hair has been investigated using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and gravimetric sorption method. The positron technique makes it possible to non-invasively characterize the angstrom sized free volume holes in hair, which are supposed to be express pathways for diffusion of small molecules. The o-Ps lifetime parameters tau3 and I3 decrease rapidly during the first 60 min of sorption time. The overall decrease in o-Ps lifetime (tau3) was well over 200 ps and o-Ps intensity (I3) drops by 3.5%. These positron results are explained in terms of dye molecules filling the free volume holes and hair morphology. The dye penetrates the cuticle rapidly, but slowly in cortex. The first hour of dyeing appears to be the most effective period of deposition of dye molecules within hair. These results are well corroborated by the sorption results which suggest that the dye diffusion is essentially a diffusion controlled (i.e. Fickian) process, with no observable relaxation effects. In the latter part of the sorption, where positron parameters remain almost constant, mass increase might be due to surface adhesion. These two stages of sorption are well separated by the positron technique. The sorption curve also yielded an average value of apparent diffusivity of the dye in hair. From this study, we conclude that the free volume theory and positron technique, widely used in polymer research, may expediently be used to understand hair properties, more importantly diffusion of dye molecules.