Theory of expansion and compression of polymeric materials (2307.16146v3)

Abstract: We extend classical Flory-Rehner theory for the expansion and compression of porous materials such as cross-linked polymer networks. The theory includes volume exclusion, affinity with the solvent, and finite stretching of the polymer chains. We also modify this equilibrium theory -- that applies to equal expansion of a material in all directions -- to the situation that a material can only expand in a single direction, as is the case when a thin layer is tightly bound to a support structure. We extend this equilibrium model to the case that a pressure is applied across such a thin layer of the polymer material, for instance a membrane, and liquid flows across this layer. The theory describes how in the direction of liquid flow the membrane is increasingly compacted (becomes less porous), and the more so at higher applied pressures. We provide results of example calculations for a thick membrane with significant changes in compaction across its thickness, and a thin membrane for which compaction due to flow is minor. In the last section we model the dynamics of the change of size of a porous material in time after a step change in the solvent-polymer attraction parameter.