Experimental validation of computational models for mass transport through micro heterogeneous membranes
Abstract(#br)This work describes a setup for the experimental and theoretical study of the mass transport of a penetrant through a two-dimensional model-material microstructure consisting in a homogeneous matrix with slender obstacles. Experiments were performed using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) specimens with a controlled pattern of randomly distributed laser-ablated microscopic slender holes that mimic the obstacles to the diffusion of the penetrant, 1-octadecanol (ODOL). Mass transport of ODOL throughout the patterned PDMS matrix was monitored by means of Confocal Raman microscopy.