Nature of the Diffusion Process in Rubber

Abstract

IT is known^1,2, that silica-gas diffusion systems exemplify a type of non-specific activated diffusion process, as opposed to the specific type of diffusion system such as hydrogen-palladium. It seemed that the diffusion of gases through other glass-like materials such as some organic membranes, for example, rubber, might offer further examples of non-specific activated diffusion. The data needed to test this hypothesis were available in papers by Edwards and Pickering³, and by Dewar⁴. Graham⁵ first noted the large temperature coefficient of the diffusion process through rubber, and that the diffusion velocities had no connexion with the molecular weights.