Diffusion of evaporated gold arid silver into Bisphenol A polycarbonat
e has been studied using the radiotracer technique in combination with
ion beam sputtering for serial sectioning. Diffusion coefficients bet
ween 4 x 10(-14) and 1 x 10(-16) cm(2) s(-1) were measured in the temp
erature range between 210 and 130 degrees C. The metal concentration i
n the polymer turned out to depend strongly on the evaporation rate. A
n Arrhenius-like temperature dependence with activation energies of 1.
02 eV for silver and 1.13 eV for gold was found. The low diffusivities
, which are not affected by the polymer dynamics, are interpreted with
in molecular theories for diffusion of gases in polymers with an addit
ional attractive interaction between metal atoms and polymer chains.