A comparative study of approaches applied to the permeability of binary composite polymeric materials

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Abstract
A study has been made of various approaches to the problem of evaluating the permeability of a binary composite polymeric material on the basis of certain fundamental theoretical assumptions. In particular, it is assumed that the component phases form well‐defined microscopic domains and do not interact with each other or with the penetrant. The main characteristics and relative merits of these treatments are considered in detail, and it is shown that considerable information can be obtained about the range of validity and physical significance of certain well‐known formulas, which were previously applied in a largely empirical way. These results indicate specific fields of application (which include filled or semicrystalline polymers, foams, block and graft copolymers, and nonhomogeneous polymer blends) for each of the formulas in question and lead to a deeper understanding of the relation between permeability or analogous properties (such as thermal or electrical conductivity, electrical permittivity, elastic modulus, etc.) and the structural characteristics of composite polymeric (and other) materials.