S:The gas transport properties of homo-and copolyimides prepared from 3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA) and 3,3'-and 4,4'-diaminodiphenylsulfones (m-DDS and p-DDS, respectively) are investigated. With increasing fraction of m-DDS, the density of the polyimide films increased by 1.1 % and the glass transition temperature decreased by 70 K. With increasing fraction of m-DDS, permeability coefficients P ofH2 and CO2 in the film decreased to 1/3 and 1/15, while P ratios of H2 to CO and CO2 to CH4 increased by 4.1 and 1.8 times, respectively, as a result of decrease in the diffusion coefficient and increase in diffusivity selectivity. These observations are interpreted in terms of changes in free volume fraction, distribution of size of free volume, and segmental mobility. KEY WORDS Gas Permeability / Permselectivity / Polyimide / Copolyimide / Diffusion Polyimides have attracted much attention as membrane materials applicable to gas separations.1,2 In the previous papers,3-6 we reported the effects of morphology and chemical structure on gas permeability of polyimides based on 3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA). Sykes and Clair reported the gas permeabilities of various polyimides based on pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and 3,3',4,4' -benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA),7 and pointed out that polyimides prepared from meta-diamines have lower permeabilities to O 2 , COz, and water vapors than the corresponding polyimides from the para-diamines. A similar tendency has also been noted for F-containing polyimides, 8 polyesters 9 ,10 and poly(sulfone-amide)s.u Since the change in the permeability depends on the chemical structure of polymers, it is interesting to elucidate the factors controlling the permeability and permselectivity of these polymers.Polym. J., Vol. 22, No.5, 1990 In the present study, gas-transport properties of homo-and co-polyimides prepared from BPDA and 3,3' -and 4,4' -diaminodiphenylsulfones (m-DDS and p-DDS, respectively) are investigated.
EXPERIMENTALThe polyimides used in this study were prepared by solution condensation of BPDA with diamines, as described in the previous paper. 3 The diamines were p-DDS, m-DDS, and mixtures of p-DDS and m-DDS (7/3 and 5/5 in the p/m ratio). The films were obtained 381