Preparation and characterization of acrylonitrile-methyl acrylate /TiO2 composite membrane by thermally induced phase separation

• 1、School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China
• 2、State Key Laboratory of Hollow Fiber Membrane Materials and Processes, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China

Abstract：Acrylonitrile-methyl acrylate (AN-MA)/ TiO2 composite membrane was prepared by Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS), using melt AN-MA copolymer as matrix, ethylene carbonate (EC) and triethyl citrate (TEC) as a complex diluent. With the help of Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and universal testing machine, the mechanical property, water flux, porosity and crystal form of the membrane were tested. The results show that the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles can significantly improve the mechanical strength and the water flux of AN-MA/TiO2 composite membrane. With the increase of TiO2 content, the mechanical strength of the composite membrane first increased and then decreased. When TiO2 mass fraction is 0.1%, the breaking strength of AN-MA/ TiO2 composite membrane is up to 8.0 MPa, increased by 36% compared with pure AN-MA membrane. Addition of nano-TiO2 can suppress macrovoid to a certain degree, resulting in a more uniform pore structure. With the coagulation bath temperature rising, the mechanical properties of the composite membrane gradually increased but flux decreased.

Keywords： thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) nano-TiO2 acrylonitrile-methyl acrylate based composite membrane complex diluent coagulation bath temperature