دو ماهنامه علوم و تکنولوژی پلیمر
سال بیست و هشتم شماره 5 (پیاپی 139، آذر و دی 1394)

Considering the rapid progress in applications of membrane separation technologies in various industries and the importance of asymmetric membranes morphology in governing the separation performance in membrane systems, control of this parameter in the membrane fabrication process is regarded as a prominent subject in the field. Hence, investigation on the rheological properties of polymer solutions, including viscoelasticity and gelation behavior and their influence on the membrane formation and morphological structure of membranes including flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes is a prerequisite to produce asymmetric membranes with desirable characteristics. Phase inversion is the most widely used technique for the preparation of asymmetric membranes and the two major mechanisms of liquid-liquid and solid-liquid demixing in membrane fabrication process affect the morphology of the membranes. Therefore, controlling the phase inversion in the early stage can greatly influence membrane microstructure. The rheological behavior of polymer solutions during the fabrication of membranes as well as other factors that influence the morphological structure of the membranes are evaluated in the present study. In addition, the principles governing the rheology of polymer solutions such as viscoelasticity, shear and extensional viscosity play a crucial role in determining the membrane morphology and separation performance. Due to the interaction of the rheology of polymer solutions and phase inversion, the effects of changes in the rheological properties on the phase inversion and the formation of membranes with different structures and morphologies are studied. Furthermore, in addition to the analysis of the effect of the relaxation time and gelation mechanisms, discussions are provided about the determination of the final membrane morphology considering the competition between the domains growth and gelation rates.

In this research, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were selected as reinforcing agent with the aim of improving antibacterial and mechanical properties of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC-ZnO nanocomposite was prepared by dispersing ZnO nanoparticles into a PVC solution. Taguchi experimental design method was used to determine the optimal conditions for preparation of nanocomposite. The effects of five factors including ZnO weight percentage, kind of solvent, the addition method of ZnO, film drying temperature and stirring time were investigated on different levels. Optimal conditions were determined by using the signal/noise (S/N) method. It was distinguished that, kind of solvent, the addition method of ZnO and ZnO weight percentage are three significant factors in the confidence level of 95%. Staphylo coccus aureus and Escherichi coli, two different types of bacteria (one gram-positive bacteria and one gram-negative bacteria) were used in Mueller-Hinton broth for antimicrobial testing. This test confirmed the antibacterial property of the optimal nanocomposite in respect to pure polyvinyl chloride. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray system (EDX) was used to characterize the composition and structure of the optimal nanocomposite film.

Olefinic copolymers of ethylene/1-hexene were synthesized by three main types of supported catalysts, including Philips, Ziegler-Natta and metallocene catalysts, and the specific microstructural features delivered by each class of the catalysts were studied. The heterogeneity of comonomer distribution was studied by thermal fractionation using successive self nucleation annealing (SSA) as a novel method. It was observed that the comonomer incorporation ability decreased in the order of metallocene > Ziegler-Natta > Philips. The chemical composition distribution (CCD) of the produced copolymers was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Interestingly, we found that the copolymers produced by the directly supported metallocene catalyst possessed heterogeneous comonomer distributions, similar to the samples produced by Ziegler–Nata and Philips catalysts. The lamellar thickness distributions of the copolymers were calculated by the DSC curve deconvolution into a number of standard distribution functions. It was shown that the type of the supported catalyst did not affect the lamella thickness distribution to a discernible extent. The range of lamellar thickness was about 2-29 Å for the polymers produced using directly supported metallocene, Zigler-Natta and Philips catalysts, while the corresponding value for copolymers made by homogeneous metallocene catalyst was in the range of 2-7 Å. It could be concluded that in-situ supporting of metallocene catalyst increased the comonomer incorporation in a more homogeneous fashion. In addition, comonomer units were distributed more homogeneously at higher 1-hexene concentrations as could be realized from the approach of DSC index (DSCI) which showed that the DSC index moved towards unity at higher comonomer levels.

Fabrication of an efficient microfiltration polymeric membrane with low fouling characteristic and high permeation flux is an essential task for developing membrane-related researches and membrane industries. Surface skin layer which decreases the membrane permeation and accelerates the membrane fouling in purification and separation of protein solution is usually observed for all membranes fabricated via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method. In this work, the impact of coagulation bath temperature on the skin layer thickness and performance of fabricated membranes was investigated. Collagen protein purification tests were carried out to investigate the impact of skin layer on the performance and determine the fouling mechanisms of the membranes. Obtained results showed that when coagulation bath temperature increases, the thickness of skin layer decreases. In membranes with lower surface porosity, decline in protein permeation is mainly due to the standard blocking fouling mechanism which is a kind of the irreversible fouling phenomenon. In membranes with higher surface porosity, however, decline in protein permeation is mainly due to the intermediate blocking fouling mechanism which is a kind of reversible fouling phenomenon. Obtained results from permeation flux and spectrophotometric analyses of inlet feed and retentate streams within 800 min showed that the collagen recovery ratio for modified and unmodified membranes were 5.6 and less than 1%, respectively. It is worth to mention that for membrane with lower surface porosity the collagen filtration process was stopped within 400 min due to the membrane fouling. For membrane with higher surface porosity, however there was no halting in filtration process within 800 min.

Thermal properties, flammability and mechanical properties of three different kinds of unsaturated polyester resins, ortho, iso and vinyl ester and an epoxy resin based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A were investigated. Since these resins are widely used in the composite industry it is vital to recognize their properties. For this purpose, viscosity, burning rate, limiting oxygen index (LOI) and flexural properties were measured. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis were also performed. The viscosity of unsaturated polyester resins which was in the range of 300 to 450 cp showed an advantage compared to the viscosity of epoxy resin which was in the range of 600 to 1000 cp. The low viscosity property which is usually seen in unsaturated polyester resins is very important from the processing point of view, which in turn helps to ensure a simple processing. The ortho resin showed the highest conversion and conversion rate among the three unsaturated polyester resins. The vinyl ester resin showed a higher conversion than the iso resin. The results showed that the vinyl ester resin had the highest thermal resistance, flammability and mechanical properties among the unsaturated polyester resins used in this work. On the other hand, although the epoxy resin showed the highest burning rate but it had the highest carbon residue or char yield (12.4%) and LOI (20.2%), and consequently the highest thermal resistance. The results of flexural test showed that the epoxy resin had the highest flexural strength (116 MPa) and modulus (4.1 GPa) and the lowest deflection-at-break (2.8%) and toughness in comparison with the unsaturated polyester resins used in this work.

Phase inversion is a common method for preparation of polymeric membranes. It is noticeable that most of the membranes prepared by this method have an asymmetrical structure. In this type of membranes, separation of particles occurs only by top dense layer in a high operating pressure. On the other hand, the separation process using symmetric membranes containing surface pores occurs on the top surface and in the depth of the membrane at lower operating pressure. In this research, preparation of polyethersulfone-based membranes was performed through the phase inversion method by dimethylacetamide as a solvent and water as the nonsolvent. Changing the coagulation conditions by applying one pause stage in an environment with the precise control of temperature and humidity, along with using polyvinylpyrrolidone as a hydrophilic additive, were attempted in order to control the porosity and structural changes of the membrane. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, bubble point test, porosity, and mean pore radius measurements were used to study the structure of the prepared membranes. The performance of the membranes was evaluated by pure water permeation test and elimination of bacteria from cell culture medium. The results obtained illustrate that the implemented method is capable of preparation of membranes with symmetrical structure and pore diameter less than 0.4 μm featuring acceptable pure water flux and bacteria removalability. It was also observed that increase in the concentration of polyvinylpyrrolidone additive leads to an increase in porosity, permeation and pore size of the membrane samples. On the other hand, the tensile strength and elongation-at-break of the membrane samples were reduced upon increasing in polyvinylpyrrolidone concentration.