Abstract
THE permeability of polyolefin film may be made selective towards a particular solvent by annealing the film below its dissolution temperature in that solvent. For example1,2, a selectivity towards p-xylene in a mixture of o, m and p-xylenes has been conferred on a polyolefin membrane in this way. Michaels and co-workers3 have extended this to other solvents and were able to increase permeability as much as fifteen-fold relative to untreated membranes, but with reduced selectivity toward the permeants. These enhanced permeabilities were, however, not permanent. We demonstrate here4 that when solvent annealing of a polyethylene film is followed by cobalt-60γ-irradiation—while the film is still in contact with the annealing solvent—permeabilities are greatly increased. The enhancement produced by a combination of irradiation and annealing, however, is not only greater than that caused by annealing alone, but is far more permanent.
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References
Baddour, R. F., and Michaels, A. S. US Patent 3,299,157 (January 17, 1967).
Michaels, A. S., Baddour, R. F., Bixler, H. J., and Choo, C. Y., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. Dev., 1, 14 (1962).
Michaels, A. S., Vieth, W., Hoffmann, A. S., and Alcalay, H. A. J. Appl. Polymer Sci., 13, 577 (1969).
Siegel, R. D., thesis (Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, 1969).
Coughlin, R. W., and Pollack, F. A. Amer. Inst. Chem. Eng. J., 15, 208 (1969).
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SIEGEL, R., COUGHLIN, R. Increasing Permeability of Polymer Membranes by Irradiation in the Fully Swollen State. Nature 226, 938–940 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/226938b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/226938b0
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