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The manufacture of microporous membranes and their structure and properties
Author(s) -
Meares Patrick
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of chemical technology and biotechnology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1097-4660
pISSN - 0268-2575
DOI - 10.1002/jctb.280370306
Subject(s) - membrane , microporous material , microfiltration , phase inversion , polymer , materials science , synthetic membrane , ceramic , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , polymer science , composite material , chemistry , engineering , biochemistry
Microporous membranes suitable for use in ultra‐ and microfiltration can now be made from a wide range of inorganic and organic materials. Inorganic membranes are made by methods derived from practices that are standard in the ceramics industry. Organic membranes are made from synthetic and modified natural polymers either in the dry state by exploiting anisotropic mechanical properties or from solutions of the polymer by one of the several versions of the phase inversion process. Thanks to the good understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of polymer‐liquid systems resulting from 50 years of careful research, the morphology of asymmetric membranes made by phase inversion can be controlled in fair detail. This short article surveys the methods of manufacturing membranes in relation to their structures.