A physicochemical study on dry-cast porous poly (styrene-co-acrylonitrile) film

• Published in: Journal of polymer research 2022-11, Vol.29 (11), Article 457
• Main Authors: Ghasemi, Seyed Morteza, Kholghi, Amir, Azizhemati, Niloufar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylonitrile; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chloroform; Diameters; Film thickness; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Mixtures; Original Paper; Phase diagrams; Phase separation; Polymer Sciences; Porosity; Styrene acrylonitrile resins; Styrenes
• ISSN: 1022-9760; 1572-8935
• DOI: 10.1007/s10965-022-03310-0

Porous films were fabricated from the poly (styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) / chloroform system containing various nonsolvents (2-propanol, PEG400, and their mixtures) by dry casting (evaporation induced phase separation, EIPS) method. The effects of polymer concentration, type and concentration of nonsolvents, and the mixture of nonsolvents on the film structure were studied. The films had an average pore diameter of 0.9–2.1 μm and a porosity of up to 56%. The phase diagram of the systems was drawn experimentally and theoretically and used to elucidate the process. The nonsolvent efficiency for creating pores (Ef NS ) and the approaching ratio of solution (AR Solution ) were also presented and used. The skin layer thickness decreased and porosity, film thickness, and Ef NS increased as the initial solution composition approached the two-phase region (increasing AR Solution ). Ef NS of PEG was higher than 2-propanol.