Development of polypropylene microporous hydrophilic membranes by blending with PP-g-MA and PP-g-AA

Functionalization and Surface Modification of Mesoporous Hydrophobic Membranes by Oligomers and Target Additives via Environmental Crazing

This work offers an ecologically friendly and facile approach for the modification of high-tonnage commercial polymers, including polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and preparation of nanocomposite polymeric membranes via incorporation of modifying oligomer hydrophilic additives, such as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(propylene glycol) (PPG), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and salicylic acid (SA). Structural modification is accomplished via the deformation of polymers in PEG, PPG, and water-ethanol solutions of PVA and SA when mesoporous membranes are loaded with oligomers and target additives. The content of target additives in nanocomposite membranes is controlled by tensile strain, and the level of loading can achieve 35-62 wt.% for PEG and PPG; the content of PVA and SA is controlled by their concentration in the feed solution. This approach allows for the simultaneous incorporation of several additives which are shown to preserve their functional performance in the polymeric membranes and their functionalization. The porosity, morphology, and mechanical characteristics of the prepared membranes were studied. The proposed approach allows an efficient and facile strategy for the surface modification of hydrophobic mesoporous membranes: depending on the nature and content of target additives, their water contact angle can be reduced to 30-65°. Water vapor permeability, gas selectivity, antibacterial, and functional properties of the nanocomposite polymeric membranes were described.

Preparation and Comparison of Properties of Three Phase Change Energy Storage Materials with Hollow Fiber Membrane as the Supporting Carrier

Herein, we have used a hollow fiber membrane as a support layer material to encapsulate paraffin in order to prepare a phase change energy storage material. The phase change energy storage materials with three different support layers were successfully prepared and various properties were systematically characterized. There are also few reports on the use of hollow fiber membranes as the support carrier for the preparation of phase change energy storage materials. The significance of this work is in exploring the use of hollow fiber membranes as a support layer to prepare phase change energy storage materials. In addition, the choice of support carriers for phase change energy storage materials was enriched. Both the hollow fiber membrane columnar hollow portion and the pore structure of the membrane wall could be used to encapsulate paraffin, which makes it more advantageous than the other support materials. The SEM characterization confirmed that paraffin was successfully encapsulated on the membrane wall and columnar hollow part of the membranes. The TGA results indicate that the introduction of the membrane as an encapsulation carrier delayed the decomposition of the composite phase change energy storage materials. The activation energy during the decomposition in the three different phase change energy storage materials was calculated by the decomposition kinetics. Among the three fiber membranes explored in this work, the polypropylene (PP) encapsulation membrane performed better than the other two encapsulation membranes in terms of encapsulation content of paraffin, porosity, latent heats, thermal stability, and activation energy.

Development of New Multilayer Active Packaging Films with Controlled Release Property Based on Polypropylene/Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)/Polypropylene Incorporated with Tea Polyphenols

The polypropylene/poly(vinyl alcohol)/polypropylene (PP/PVA/PP) multilayer active films with controlled release property were developed, of which the intermediate PVA layer was incorporated with 4% (w/w) tea polyphenols (TP) and the microporous PP films with different pore size were used as the internal controlled release layer. The SEM results showed that each layer of these films was agglutinated tightly. With increasing pore size from 171.05 to 684.03 µm, there were little effect on the films' color and opacity, the tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EAB) decreased slightly, the gas barrier (O₂ and water vapor) property of the film reduced faintly, the time of achieving the release equilibrium in 50% ethanol decreased from 75 hours to 30 hours. The diffusion coefficient for the films increased with the increase of pore size, from 2.06 × 10^-11 cm² /s to 8.06 × 10^-11 cm² /s, suggesting that the release rate of TP increased as the pore size increased. The results were indicated that its release rate could be controlled by adjusting the size of pore. The films also exhibited different antioxidant activities due to their different release profiles of TP. It showed promise for developing the controlled release active packaging film based on this concept. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Controlled release packaging is propitious to extension of food shelf life. The microporous polypropylene films with different pore size used as the internal layer of polypropylene/poly(vinyl alcohol)/polypropylene (PP/PVA/PP) multilayer active films was proved that the release rate of tea polyphenols in the intermediate PVA layer released from the films into the food simulant can be controlled by adjusting the size of pore in this study. It showed a good prospect for using microporous or perforation-mediated film as the internal layer of multilayer film to develop the controlled release active packaging film for food packaging.

Morphology and Isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Polypropylene/Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) Blends

Polypropylene (PP)/poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) blends were prepared by melt blending using PP-g-MAH as a compatabilizer. The microstructure and rheological behavior of PP/EVOH blends were studied. The results showed the that EVOH particles were uniformly dispersed in the PP matrix and inhibited the mobility of PP chains. The isothermal crystallization kinetics and morphology development of PP/EVOH blends were compared with that of pure PP. It was found that the EVOH essentially acted as an effective nucleating agent for PP, which could significantly increase the nucleation rate because the EVOH molecules in PP/EVOH blends aggregated together to form interface. Therefore, the introduction of EVOH increased the overall rate of isothermal crystallization compared with pure PP, although the PP molecular chains would be hindered seriously if excessive amounts of EVOH were added. X-ray diffraction showed that pure PP and PP/EVOH blends exhibited an identical crystal structure, and the crystallinity of the PP phase in the blends was not significantly different from that of pure PP.

Preparation of Microporous Polypropylene/Titanium Dioxide Composite Membranes with Enhanced Electrolyte Uptake Capability via Melt Extruding and Stretching

In this work, a blending strategy based on compounding the hydrophilic titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles with the host polypropylene (PP) pellets, followed by the common membrane manufacture process of melt extruding/annealing/stretching, was used to improve the polarity and thus electrolyte uptake capability of the PP-based microporous membranes. The influence of the TiO₂ particles on the crystallinity and crystalline orientation of the PP matrix was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and infrared dichroic methods. The results showed that the TiO₂ incorporation has little influence on the oriented lamellar structure of the PP-based composite films. Investigations of the deformation behavior indicated that both the lamellar separation and interfacial debonding occurred when the PP/TiO₂ composite films were subjected to uniaxial tensile stress. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations verified that two forms of micropores were generated in the stretched PP/TiO₂ composite membranes. Compared to the virgin PP membrane, the PP/TiO₂ composite membranes especially at high TiO₂ loadings showed significant improvements in terms of water vapor permeability, polarity, and electrolyte uptake capability. The electrolyte uptake of the PP/TiO₂ composite membrane with 40 wt % TiO₂ was 104%, which had almost doubled compared with that of the virgin PP membrane.

Advances in preparation, modification, and application of polypropylene membrane

Polypropylene (PP) is one of the most used polymers for microporous membrane fabrication due to its good thermal stability, chemical resistance, mechanical strength, and low cost. There have been numerous studies reporting the developments and applications of PP membranes. However, PP membrane with high performance is still a challenge. Thus, this article presents a comprehensive overview of the advances in the preparation, modification and application of PP membrane. The preparation methods of PP membrane are firstly reviewed, followed by the modification approaches of PP membrane. The modifications includes hydrophilic and superhydrophobic modification so that the PP membranes become more suitable to be applied either in aqueous applications or in non-aqueous ones. The fouling resistant of hydrophilized PP membrane and the wetting resistant of superhydrophobized PP membrane are then reviewed. Finally, special attention is given to the various potential applications and industrial outlook of the PP membranes.

Surface Modification of Polypropylene Membrane Using Biopolymers with Potential Applications for Metal Ion Removal

This work aims to present the modification of polypropylene (PP) membranes using three different biopolymers, chitosan (CHI), potato starch (PS), and cellulose (CEL), in order to obtain three new materials. The modified membranes may be degraded easier than polypropylene ones and could be used as selective membranes for metal ions removal, among other applications. For this purpose, the UV energy induced graft copolymerization reaction among polypropylene membrane, acrylic acid, benzophenone (as photoinitiator), and the biopolymer (CHI, PS, or CEL) was conducted. The results of FT-IR-ATR, XRD, TGA, DSC, SEM, BET, and AFM analyses and mechanical properties clearly indicate the successful modification of the membrane surface. The change of surface wettability was monitored by contact angle. The grafting reaction depends on natural polymer, reaction time, and concentration. In order to prove the potential application of the modified membranes, a preliminary study of sorption of metal ion was carried out. For this purpose, the PP-CHI membrane was chosen because of the high hydrophilicity, proportionate to -OH and NH2; these groups could act as ligands of metal ions, provoking the interaction between PP-CHI and M+ (PP-CHI-M+) and therefore the metal ion removal from water.

Effects of annealing stress field on the structure and properties of polypropylene hollow fiber membranes made by stretching

By adopting three types of annealing stress fields, this work focused on investigating their effects on the microstructural evolution of polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber precursors obtained by the melt spinning process.

Fluorinated polyurethane macroporous membranes with waterproof, breathable and mechanical performance improved by lithium chloride

The waterproof, breathable, and mechanical properties of the FPU/PU fibrous membranes could be dramatically improved at the same time simply by regulating the polymers solutions conductivity.

High hydrophilicity and excellent adsorption ability of a stretched polypropylene/graphene oxide composite membrane achieved by plasma assisted surface modification

Through a plasma treatment, a PP-based composite membrane with a high hydrophilicity and an excellent adsorption ability was developed.