Supercritical carbon dioxide aided processing of thin polymer films studied using the quartz crystal microbalance

Fundamental and applied aspects of the interactions between carbon dioxide (CO 2) and different polymer systems were investigated to demonstrate the effect and performance of CO2 during polymer processing. From a fundamental perspective, the sorption of CO2 into a non-soluble polymer and its dependence on the different system variables were examined. Another fundamental study investigated the dissolution of a fluorinated polymer in CO2 at different conditions. Finally, the application of supercritical CO2 for the impregnation of additives into two different polymers was evaluated. These three different studies are connected in two aspects: they all investigate the behavior of polymers under high pressure CO 2 and they all utilize the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as the primary analytical technique.;In the first part of this work, the sorption of CO2 into poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA, was investigated. The effect of several parameters, including pressure, temperature, film thickness, and polymer state, on the equilibrium and kinetics of the sorption process was studied. The uptake isotherms of CO2 into PMMA were estimated from the QCM frequency change. This uptake was found to decrease with temperature and to depend on the film thickness. The presence of hysteresis in the sorption-desorpotion isotherms clearly marked the glass transition which was found to be in good agreement with previously reported values. This glass transition also affected the sorption kinetic. In the glassy state, two-stage sorption curves were observed, whereas in the rubbery stage, Fickian diffusion was evident. The results from this study were utilized to examine the reliability of Sauerbrey equation for mass calculation. By measuring the change in QCM resistance, it was found that both the thickness and the amount of CO2 dissolved in the polymer can affect the QCM response. However, it was demonstrated that Sauerbrey equation was still applicable for films up to ∼ 1 mum thick.;In the next part, the dissolution of a fluorinated copolymer poly(dihydroperfluorooctyl methacrylate-r-tetrahydropyranyl methacrylate); PFOMA, was studied. The dissolution process consisted of two stages: CO2 sorption and polymer dissolution. The measured frequency was utilized to determine mass changes for both processes. In the sorption stage, the solubility of CO2 into PFOMA was measured at different temperatures and pressures. The solubility was found to depend on both the CO2 density and the temperature. Polymer dissolution started at pressures between 1100 and 1600 psi, depending on the temperature. The dissolution rate was found to increase as the CO2 density increases, but has a possible dependence on the temperature. Finally, the fraction of undissolved polymer after 1 hour of CO2 exposure was estimated. This fraction increased linearly from 20 to more than 90% with CO2 density.;The last part in this work examined the impregnation of ibuprofen (IBU) into two biocompatible polymers: PMMA and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), PVP. For PMMA, the amount of impregnated IBU decreased as the CO2 density increased. The solubility parameter approach provided a possible explanation for this behavior based on the interactions among PMMA, IBU, and CO2 . High partitioning coefficients of IBU between PMMA and CO2 were estimated, indicating a thermodynamically driven impregnation mechanism. A linear increase in the IBU uptake with the initial polymer mass was observed. This behavior could indicate uniform distribution of IBU in the polymer sample. The impregnation rate was found to have a strong dependence on the temperature. Pressure, on the other hand, did not seem to have significant effect. For the impregnation of IBU into PVP, the frequency response was significantly larger than the PMMA case. This unusual behavior can indicate that the PVP films physical properties (e.g., viscoelastic nature of the film or in the film-substrate adhesion) are affected by IBU which might add a non-gravimetric contribution to the frequency change.