Water-binding and oxygen permeability in poly(vinyl alcohol) films

The measurement and interpretation of isotherms for sorption of water onto, and oxygen permeability of, polymer substrates are important for designing polymers in applications such as agricultural seed coatings. In a preliminary study of water sorption in the commonly used copolymer poly(vinyl alcohol-'co'-vinyl acetate), moisture sorption isotherms were measured for a series of substrates of different comonomer composition at 25°C. The data were fitted to the D'Arcy-Watt model, which gave physically reasonable values for parameters related to the strength of monolayer adsorption to high affinity sites on the substrate and the number of sites for secondary water adsorption per unit mass. The oxygen permeability of poly(vinyl alcohol) films was found to be a function only of the water content of the films, with no other obvious contributing factors. Marked differences were seen in the populations of 'bound' and 'unbound' water characterized by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and moisture sorption isotherm fitting. There was no correlation of oxygen permeability with 'bound' or 'unbound' water measured by any means, a fact suggesting that there is a continuum of water environments within the materials.