Abstract
This article presents the results of a systematic synthesis study of elastomeric crosslinkable polysilicon olefins, the related thermal crosslinking kinetics, and the main permeability parameters recorded for inorganic gases (He, N~2~, O~2~, and CO~2~) and C~1~–C~7~ hydrocarbons. Poly(vinyl allyl dimethylsilane) (PVADMS; glass‐transition temperature < 273°K) was obtained by the anionic polymerization of bifunctional vinyl allyl dimethylsilane monomer. The polymers were amorphous, high molecular compounds with mixed carbo‐heterochain structures containing double bonds capable of intermolecular crosslinking under a thermal treatment. Thus, thermally crosslinked polymers exhibited a high resistance toward exposure to organic vapors, unlike noncrosslinked PVADMS. IR spectroscopy was used to investigate the polymer structural changes induced by the thermal treatment. An original technique based on a differential method was used to measure gas permeability during thermal crosslinking. PVADMS possessed higher permeability for C~1~–C~7~ hydrocarbons than for inorganic gases (excluding CO~2~), even after crosslinking. Permeability coefficients ranging from 140 to 1780 Barrer for He and CH~4~ were found before crosslinking; the thermal crosslinking induced a nonlinear permeability decrease that could be correlated with the disappearance of the double bonds in the polymer structures, that is, cis‐CHCH, trans‐CHCH, and CH~2~CH in the side‐chain position. According to the found properties, PVADMS could be used as a prospective material for the preparation of highly permeable selective membranes suitable for lower hydrocarbon and volatile organic compound recovery from various chemical and petrochemical process streams. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 927–935, 2005