Fabrication Of A Novel Poly Ether Sulfone Based Nanofiltration Membrane To Improve Membrane Mechanical Tensile Strength

A novel asymmetric poly ether sulfone (PES) nanocomposite nanofiltration membrane were prepared using phase inversion technique with Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as pore former and Dimethylacetamide (DMAc) as solvent and carbon nanofiber as modifier. The tear resistance as a mechanical property of the prepared membranes was tested according to ASTM1922-03. The results showed that the mechanical strength of modified membrane M2, M3, M4 was increased obviously by using carbon nanofibers into the casting solution compared unmodified membrane M1 (bare PES one) and modified membranes M2 and M3 have the highest mechanical strength, such that mechanical strength of M2 and M3 are 280.42 (kpa) and 279.94 (kpa), respectively. In fact, Formation of strong interfacial bonding between polymer and nanoparticles can lead to the improvement of the mechanical strength. The results revealed that incorporation of carbon nanofiber nanoparticles into the PES matrix can act as a physical cross-linkages in membrane structure that enhance internal membrane connections and leading to an increase of rigidity. In the following ,The mechanical strength of membrane M5 reached 89.81(kpa). A decrease of mechanical tensile strength in M5 compared other samples may be related to agglomeration and accumulation of additive particles in the high loading range of nanoparticle. Also, this reduction can be also due to the increase of voids/cavities (porosity) and channel‟s size of M5, which leads to an unstable and loose structure for the membrane and declines the membrane tensile strength.