Compatibility of polyvinylidene difluorid/polyurethane and preparation of composite tubular membrane

The compatibility of polyvinylidene difluorid (PVDF) and polyurethane (PU), the thermodynamics of the PVDF/PU/DMF (N-N-Dimethylformamide) membrane-forming systems were studied, and the composite tubular membranes of PVDF/PU-PET knitted fabric tube were prepared by the immersion precipitation phase inversion method. The results showed that the PVDF/PU system was partly compatible by the measurements of the solubility parameter theory, the mixing enthalpy, the viscosity. With PU content increasing, the gelation values increased and the instantaneous liquid-liquid phase separation was preferred to occur. The water flux of the composite tubular membranes were enhanced from 1264.81 to 2165.35 L/m2.h with PU content increasing from 10wt% to 40wt%, which resulted from the an increment of the membrane porosity and the improvement of the hydrophilicity. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.