Gas and water vapour transport through polymer based protective materials for stone monuments: Fluorinated polyurethanes

Gas and water vapour transport properties are of main concern in evaluating the suitability of a polymeric material to be used as a protective for monuments. In this work, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour transport properties have been investigated for a new class of polymers, fluorinated polyurethanes, which have been recently proposed as a protective material for stone monuments. They consist of block copolymers made of hydrophilic polyurethane and hydrophobic perfluoropolyether blocks. The properties of these copolymers are expected to be strongly related to the relative amounts of these two blocks. In this investigation, three different types of fluorinated polyurethane copolymers were considered in order to assess the effect of chemical composition and physical morphology on mass transport properties. In particular, sorption and permeation experiments were performed at 30°C to evaluate permeabilities, diffusivities and solubilities. In fact, the analysis of the effect of chemical composition on transport properties can give useful selection criteria to tailor the material to be used as a protective.