Influence of the lamination process on the mechanical properties of a PA6 electronspun membrane filter and its filtration capability

Abstract

The mechanical properties of an electrospun membrane by adding a lamination process to its production are improved. The aim is to improve the maximum force and the deformation energy obtained during a uniaxial tensile test. The investigated parameters for the lamination process are the towing velocity, number of layers, lamination time and temperature. This process leads to an improved membrane, and the significance of the lamination process using ANOVA is tested. The SEM analysis is employed to ensure visually no folie creation. In addition, on the improved membrane are conducted filtration measurements. The pressure-velocity characteristic of a non-loaded membrane is first measured. In the second step of the experiment, the pressure-velocity characteristic and also the filtration efficiency of a membrane loaded with polystyrene particles are measured.The improved membrane showed 3.5 times greater maximal force compared to a virgin membrane. From fitting the measured data obtained in the filtration measurement, the permeability, and the inertial resistance had a value of 8.99⋅10−15 m2 and 30.62⋅1010 m−1, respectively. Also, the membrane showed a high filtration efficiency of 99.9%.

Keywords

• Membrane
• Uniaxial test
• Filtration measurement
• Electrospun
• PA6