| Abstract: | Volume-averaging techniques developed for modeling drying processes in porous materials offer a convenient framework for analyzing vapor sorption in porous hygroscopic polymeric materials. Because of the large temperature changes associated with water vapor sorption in these materials (from 10° to 20°C), sorption/diffusion processes are best characterized through the coupled differential equations describing both the transport of energy and mass through the porous structure. Experimental and numerical results are compared for a variety of natural and man-made porous polymeric materials (textiles) using the volume-averaging technique. Boundary heat and mass transfer coefficients and assumptions about thermal radiative properties of the experimental apparatus are shown to influence results obtained with the numerical solution method. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1 This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America. J Appl Polym Sci 64: 493–505, 1997 |
