- Author
- Cuddihy, E. F. | Moacanin, J.
- Title
- Outgassing Rates in Polymeric Foams.
- Coporate
- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
- Book or Conf
- National Academy of Sciences. Cellular Plastics. Publication 1462. April 13-15, 1966., Natick, MA, 96-108 p., 1966
- Keywords
- polymers | foams
- Abstract
- Currently, there is considerable interest in the possibility of using polymeric foams as lightweight encapsulants for electronic components on spacecraft. Very little is known, however, about the electrical breakdown behavior in foams, when an important parameter is the pressure of the blowing gas within the foam cells; in particular, in the ionization region for the gas. Therefore, a study was undertaken of the diffusion of the blowing gas from foams when placed in high vacuum. The fundamental aspects of this process are of importance to the general problem of transport properties of heterogenous synthetic or natural polymeric systems. The purpose of this report is to present (1) a relationship that was developed to relate the diffusion constant for a foam to its density and the permeation constant of the bulk polymer, (2) a description of the experimental technique used for this study, and (3) experimental results obtained on closed-cell polyurethane foams.