Effect of water on the solubility and diffusivity of hydrocarbons in polyethylene

There are indications in the literature that the devolatilization of some polymers, particularly polyethylene, can be enhanced by the addition of water, generally in the form of steam. In this study three different experimental methods were used with three different solvent-polyethylene systems to evaluate this effect. The results indicated that no measureable differences were found in either the solubility or the diffusivity of the systems between the dry or wet polymer samples.
INTRODUCTION This article is devoted to analyzing the effect of water on the removal of the residual monomer and solvent used during the polymerization of ethylene in order to define [...]