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Showing 3 results for Polysulfone


Volume 4, Issue 2 (10-2020)
Abstract

Abstract
Research subject: In recent years, many efforts have been made to improve the performance of polymer membranes in oxygen-nitrogen separation due to the high cost and energy consumption of cryogenic distillation and adsorption methods. Increasing the performance of these types of membranes is still needed for industrial applications.
Research approach: In this research, novel magnetic mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared using polysulfone (PSf) as the main matrix, and also neodymium (Nd) as the magnetic particles for O2/N2 separation. To avoid the particle sedimentation and proper dispersion of particles across the membrane thickness, magnetic particle dispersion in the PSf was controlled by applying an external magnetic field (MF). The effect of Nd magnetic particle content on the microstructure, magnetic properties and thermal stability of the prepared MMMs were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and thermo-gravimetric analysis. In this reseach, a novel magnetic module was designed and constructed to investigate the performance of prepared membranes in the presence of various MFs.
Main Results: The obtained results indicated that the permeability of O2 and N2 gases was improved by adding Nd magnetic particles into PSf matrix regardless of the amount of MF due to the chain packing of polymers disruption and free volume enhancement. The permeability of O2 and N2 in the MMMs containing 5 wt.% Nd in the absence of MF was about 182 % and 443%, respectively, higher than those of neat PSf membranes. Furthermore, the permeability and selectivity of PSf and PSf-Nd membranes were considerably improved by applying the MF during the permeation experiments. In the MMMs containing 5 wt.% Nd, O2/N2 selectivity was increased from 2.73 to 3.77 upon an increase in the intensity of MF from 0 to 570 mT. Considering the findings, the application of Nd particles and MF during the membrane preparation and separation processes can be facile methods for enhancement of membrane performance.
 
Keywords: Oxygen/nitrogen separation; Polysulfone; Neodymium; Magnetic mixed-matrix membranes; Magnetic separation module
 

Volume 7, Issue 4 (12-2023)
Abstract

Research subject: Permeability and high selectivity are two important factors of gas separation membranes. To achieve such parameters, gas separation membranes can be modified and improved in terms of material type, material ratio, structure, and etc. For this purpose, in this research, the performance of chitosan-gallic acid/polysulfone thin film composite membranes (TFC) has been improved in CO2 gas separation.
Research approach: To prepare chitosan-gallic acid/polysulfone TFC membranes, a nanometer-scale thin layer of chitosan-gallic acid was formed on the polysulfone support layer (PSF). Following this, chitosan-gallic acid composite thin layer membranes were synthesized with different mass ratios (1:1, 2:1, and 1:2). Various analytical techniques, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), and X-ray Photoelectric Spectroscopy )XPS(, were used to examine the structure of the TFC membranes, alongside CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 separation tests.
Main results: Examining the chemical structure of the synthesized membranes showed the successful formation of chitosan-gallic acid chains on the PSF surface. The microscopic images of the synthesized membranes showed that a dense thin layer of chitosan-gallic acid was uniformly formed on the PSF support layer. The highest CO2 separation was achieved with a chitosan-gallic acid mass ratio of 1:2. Increasing the gallic acid content in the selective layer of the thin film composite membrane resulted in improved CO2 permeability, increasing from 294.4 GPU and 347.2 GPU for the 1:1 and 2:1 membrane, respectively, to 411.1 GPU for the 1:2 membrane. Additionally, the permeability of CH4 and N2 gases through the thin film composite (1:2) membrane was measured at 24.6 GPU and 19.2 GPU, respectively. The gas selectivity calculations revealed an increase in selectivity for CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2, rising from 13.84 and 17.165 in the 1:1 membrane and 9.684 and 12.969 in the 2:1 membrane to 16.711 and 21.411 in the 1:2 membranes. The results showed that the performance of the chitosan-gallic acid thin layer membrane, which was used for the first time in CO2 separation, was acceptable.
 
A. Pazhouheshgar , A.h. Moghanian , S.a. Sadough Vanini,
Volume 20, Issue 8 (8-2020)
Abstract

The composites derived from the bioactive glasses, such as BG/polysulfone, have better mechanical properties than pure materials and their characteristics are closer to human bone. In this study, the unknown fracture behavior of 58s BG/PSF composite has been investigated. The extended finite element method (XFEM) was used, in order to model the fracture behavior of 58s BG/PSF composite with greater accuracy. The XFEM doesn’t require remeshing at each step and achieves the precise approximation of singularities by incorporating discontinuity behavior into the elements using the enrichment functions. The aim of using the XFEM was to obtain stress intensity factors, displacements, stress and strain around the crack tip, fracture toughness as well as strain energy release rate. Moreover, the 58s BG/PSF composite with 30% bioactive glass particles was synthesized using solvent casting method and the bending failure test was performed according to the relevant standard. Also, to demonstrate the quality of the interface between the glass particles and polysulfone, SEM investigation was performed on the fracture surface. The obtained fracture toughness was in the range of 1.4 to 1.6 , and the strain energy release rate was in the range of 1600 to 1900 J.m-2, which was comparable to the same properties of natural human bone. Besides, the stress intensity factors and strain energy release rates were calculated by coding in MATLAB and modeling in ABAQUS, and the numerical results were validated with the analytical and experimental data and it was revealed that the numerical results were in great coordinance with the analytical and experimental results.


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