(376ao) Modeling the Effects of Mass Transfer on Microstructure Formation in Polymer Membranes | AIChE

(376ao) Modeling the Effects of Mass Transfer on Microstructure Formation in Polymer Membranes

Authors 

Tree, D. - Presenter, Brigham Young University
Fredrickson, G. H., University of California, Santa Barbara
Dos Santos, L. F., Universidade Estadual de Maringa?
Widely used in industry, phase-inversion membranes represent the most common instance of a self-assembled polymer membrane. However, despite their ubiquity, quantitatively predicting and controlling their microstructure remains a difficult challenge. This challenge persists because phase-inversion membranes are produced by a non-equilibrium processes that is challenging to model due to the need to capture phase separation kinetics and complex hydrodynamics over a wide range of length and time scales. We have recently developed and validated a "multi-fluid" model that is capable of spanning these scales by incorporating continuum fluid dynamics and a field-theoretic description of polymer thermodynamics. We proceed to use this model to explore the kinetics of the mass-transfer driven phase separation that drives microstructure formation in these membranes. We will show that our model predicts the existence of different kinetic regimes, which qualitatively matches experimentally observed behaviors in the phase-inversion process.