Dynamics of Membrane Structure Formation in Quenched Polymer Solutions
type: CreativeWork
description: The Cahn-Hilliard approach is extended to the study of phase separation in ternary polymer/solvent/nonsolvent systems. Three systems are studied: PMMA/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone [NMP]/glycerol, for which experimental data are available, and two common membrane-forming systems, poly(ether sulfone) [PES]/dimethylsulfoxide [DMSO]/water and cellulose acetate [CA]/acetone/water. The effects of quench temperature and initial solution composition on the predicted structure-formation dynamics are elucidated. For the PMMA/NMP/glycerol system, model predictions agree well with real-time data obtained from light scattering measurements. Predicted pore growth rate curves exhibit a relative maximum with both quench temperature and nonsolvent composition. For shallow quenches (higher quench temperatures and lower nonsolvent content) near a phase boundary, the pore growth rate increases with increasing quench depth while for deep quenches, where the composition of the polymer rich phase approaches that of a glass, the pore growth rate decreases with increasing quench depth. This behavior seems to be a universal phenomenon in quenched polymer solutions which can undergo a glass transition, and is result of an interplay between thermodynamic and kinetic driving forces for phase separation.
abstract: The Cahn-Hilliard approach is extended to the study of phase separation in ternary polymer/solvent/nonsolvent systems. Three systems are studied: PMMA/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone [NMP]/glycerol, for which experimental data are available, and two common membrane-forming systems, poly(ether sulfone) [PES]/dimethylsulfoxide [DMSO]/water and cellulose acetate [CA]/acetone/water. The effects of quench temperature and initial solution composition on the predicted structure-formation dynamics are elucidated. For the PMMA/NMP/glycerol system, model predictions agree well with real-time data obtained from light scattering measurements. Predicted pore growth rate curves exhibit a relative maximum with both quench temperature and nonsolvent composition. For shallow quenches (higher quench temperatures and lower nonsolvent content) near a phase boundary, the pore growth rate increases with increasing quench depth while for deep quenches, where the composition of the polymer rich phase approaches that of a glass, the pore growth rate decreases with increasing quench depth. This behavior seems to be a universal phenomenon in quenched polymer solutions which can undergo a glass transition, and is result of an interplay between thermodynamic and kinetic driving forces for phase separation.
author: Barton, Benjamin Fredrick
language: eng
keywords: Engineering, Chemical
date published: 2015-09-25T20:44:10Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:18Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/82456