Changsoo Jang and Bongtae Han
Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE)
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A.
Young-Rae Cho
Division of Materials Science and Engineering,
Pusan National University,
Pusan 609-735, Republic of Korea
Abstract:
We propose and validate a diffusion model, based on the ideal laminate theory (ILT), to describe water transport through metal-coated polymer films for barrier applications. The physical properties required for numerical implementation are studied. The analysis reveals that the solubility of the metallic coating is not required for an accurate water transport analysis, which makes the ILT-based model practical. The model is implemented numerically and the results are compared with the experimentally measured transient water weight gain of PET films with Al and Cr coatings to corroborate the validity of the model.
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