| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5206697 | Polymer Testing | 2012 | 9 Pages |
A digital image correlation (DIC) technique to quantify complex strain behavior resulting from solvent ingress into glassy polymer networks has been developed. Our results clearly show the strain behavior for Case II diffusion solvent ingress. The utilization of DIC to study solvent ingress has shown a new method for quantifying the advancing flow front of solvent penetration into polymer networks. This non-contact technique is advantageous for quantifying the kinetic rate of solvent ingress and provides a method for studying the amount of strain developing in polymer samples during solvent swelling. DIC provides an ability to track strain variations between swollen and unperturbed states of polymers, and quantifies strain variance across the sample between fully swollen and non-swollen states. To our knowledge, a method for measuring strain for solvent ingress simultaneously across all states of the sample does not exist, and this method offers new opportunities for studying the ingress behavior for a broad range of solvent penetrants and polymers.
