The single component surface energy model has long been recognized as a simple, if incomplete, model which may be used to describe the interactions occurring at two-phase material interfaces. Multicomponent models have been proven to more rigorously and more accurately describe these interactions. However, the bulk of the work done to model the hydrostatic breakthrough pressures of liquids through polymer based membranes has been based on the single component model of surface energy. This is of particular interest due to our recent work showing the potential of such polymeric membranes in various interesting applications such as the separation of fuel and water. In this work we investigate the use of the three component van Oss model of surface energy to predict the hydrostatic breakthrough pressure of liquids through a variety of different functionalized cellulose and alumina membranes with varying pore sizes. A suite of surface chemistries and solvents with widely ranging surface energy component values were selected in order to quantify the benefits of using the multicomponent model, and the relative predictive improvements seen in these investigations will be presented.

Prediction of membrane breakthrough pressure using multicomponent surface energy models

254th National Meeting (2017)

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