Investigation in Influence of Types of Polypropylene Material on Diffusion by Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Polypropylene (PP) and its copolymers are widely used in food packaging films and containers. This paper investigates the diffusion of limonene as a low molar mass compound through three types of polypropylene materials (PP‐H, PP‐B and PP‐R) by using the molecular dynamics method, evaluates the influence of types of polypropylene material on the diffusion behaviour of limonene and reveals the diffusion mechanism. The diffusion coefficients of limonene in PP‐H, PP‐B and PP‐R are obtained at 313K and 353K. The accessible free volumes for polymers PP‐H, PP‐B and PP‐R are calculated by using the probe radius r_p = 0.09, 0.11, 0.128 and 0.209 nm, respectively. The results suggest that not only the amount of accessible free volume in PP‐R cell model is larger than that of PP‐H and PP‐B but also the free volume in PP‐R connects together to form some larger free volume clusters. The movements of the limonene molecules through the PP‐H, PP‐B and PP‐R cell models at different simulation time suggest that for a long time the limonene molecules squirm slowly in the polymer cell rather than jumping and that the hopping diffusion is not suitable to explain the diffusion of limonene in polypropylene. The movement trajectories of the limonene molecules in PP‐R indicate that the movements of limonene in PP‐R are more active than that in PP‐H and PP‐B. The paper reveals the diffusion dynamics process and microscopic mechanism of small molecules from different types of polypropylene. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.