Claims
- 1. A process for the preparation of a porous poly(aryl ether) article comprising:
a. forming a blend of poly(aryl ether) polymer with a polyimide, b. forming a shaped configuration from said poly(aryl ether) polyimide blend, c. decomposing said polyimide in said shaped configuration into low molecular weight fragments by reacting said polyimide with a primary amine, a secondary amine or a tetramethylammonium hydroxide, and d. removing said low molecular weight fragments from said shaped configuration.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said step b) is accomplished by extrusion, casting or molding.
- 3. The process of claim 1 wherein said primary aliphatic amine is monoethanolamine, ethylamine, propylamine, butylamine, or a mixture thereof.
- 4. The process of claim 1 wherein said primary aliphatic amine, secondary amine or tetramethylammonium hydroxide are in a solution of alcohol, hydrocarbon, ketone, water, or a mixture thereof.
- 5. The process of claim 4 wherein said alcohol is methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, or butanol.
- 6. The process of claim 1 wherein said poly(aryl ether) is polyphenylene oxide, or polysulfone.
- 7. The process of claim 6 wherein said polysulfone is polyether sulfone, bisphenol A based polysulfone, or biphenol based polysulfone.
- 8. The process of claim 6 wherein said polyimide is poly(ether imide) of the following repeat unit:
- 9. The process of claim 1 wherein said shaped configuration is drawn prior to step c) after step d) or both.
- 10. The process of claim 6 wherein said polysulfone is polyether sulfone and wherein said polyimide is phenylindane containing polyimide.
- 11. The process of claim 1 wherein said porous article is a flat sheet, a tubular or a hollow fiber fluid separation membrane.
- 12. The process of claim 11 wherein said membrane is microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration or gas separation membrane.
- 13. The process of claim 11 wherein said fluid separation membrane further contains a separation layer formed on top of the flat sheet, tube or hollow fiber surface.
- 14. The process of claim 1 wherein said steps c) and d) take place concurrently in a common liquid media.
- 15. The process of claim 1 further comprising drying the porous article under conditions that substantially preserves the porous structure.
- 16. The process of claim 15 wherein said drying process is carried out by removing a hydrocarbon, or a fluorocarbon solvent from said porous article.
- 17. The process of claim 1 wherein said blend contains at least one additive.
- 18. The process of claim 17 wherein said additive is a solvent, a plasticizer, a catalytic particle, or a filler.
- 19. The process of claim 1 wherein said poly(aryl ether) article is a multilayer article formed from two or more poly(aryl ether)/polyimide blends that differ in blend chemical composition.
- 20. The process of claim 19 wherein said multilayer article contains two or more layers that differ in the average pore size.
- 21. The process of claim 20 wherein the layer comprised of the smaller average pore size is supported or sandwiched between layers with the larger average pore size.
- 22. The process of claim 1 wherein said article is a battery separator.
- 23. A process for the preparation of a porous poly(aryl ether) article comprising:
a. forming a casting solution containing a poly(aryl ether), a polyimide and at least one solvent, b. forming a shaped configuration in the form of a flat sheet, a tube, or a hollow fiber from said casting solution, c. conveying said shaped configuration through an evaporation zone, d. solidifying said shaped configuration by contacting it with a coagulation fluid or by a thermally induced quenching, e. decomposing said polyimide in said shaped configuration into low molecular weight fragments by chemical means, f. removing said low molecular weight fragments from said shaped configuration.
- 24. The process of claim 23 wherein said poly(aryl ether) is polysulfone or poly(phenylene oxide).
- 25. The process of claim 23 wherein step c) is omitted.
- 26. The process of claim 23 wherein step d) is omitted.
- 27. The process of claim 23 wherein said at least one solvent is partially or completely removed during step c).
- 28. The process of claim 23 further comprising drying said shaped configuration, to remove residual solvent under conditions that substantially preserve the porous structure.
- 29. The process of claim 23 wherein said casting solution further contains a non solvent, a poroformer or a filler.
- 30. The process of claim 23 wherein said step d) and step e) take place concurrently in a common liquid media.
- 31. The process of claim 23 wherein said step e) and step f) take place concurrently in a common liquid media.
- 32. The process of claim 23 further comprise a washing step to remove said solvent after step d) and before step e).
- 33. The process of claim 23 wherein said polyimide is decomposed by contacting the shaped configuration with tetramethylammonium hydroxide, primary aliphatic amine, secondary aliphatic amine, or a mixture thereof.
- 34. The process of claim 33 wherein and said primary aliphatic amine is monoethanolamine, ethylamine, propylamine, butylamine, or a mixture thereof.
- 35. The process of claim 23 wherein said porous article is a microfiltration, an ultrafiltration, a nanofiltration, or a gas separation membrane.
- 36. The process of claim 35 wherein said microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration or gas separation membrane further contain a separation layer formed on top of the flat sheet, tube or hollow fiber surface.
- 37. The process of claim 23 wherein said porous article is a multilayer article formed from two or more casting solutions that differ in solution chemical composition.
- 38. The process of claim 37 wherein said multilayer article contains two or more layers that differ in the average pore size.
- 39. The process of claim 38 wherein the layer comprised of the smaller average pore size is supported by or sandwiched between layers with the larger average pore size.
- 40. The process of claim 24 wherein said polysulfone is polyether sulfone and said polyimide is phenylindane containing polyimide of the following formula:
- 41. The process of claim 24 wherein said polysulfone is bisphenol A based polysulfone and said polyimide is phenylindane containing polyimide of the following general formula:
- 42. The process of claim 23 wherein said poly(aryl ether) is poly(phenylene oxide) and said polyimide is phenylindane containing polyimide of the following general formula:
- 43. The process of claim 24 wherein said polysulfone is biphenol based polysulfone.
- 44. The process of claim 24 wherein said flat sheet is supported by a screen or a permeable cloth.
- 45. A process for the preparation of a porous multilayer poly(aryl ether) article comprising:
a. forming a first blend of poly(aryl ether) polymer with a polyimide; b. forming at least one additional blend of a poly(aryl ether) polymer with a polyimide wherein the blend composition differs from that of said first blend; c. forming a shaped article of two or more layers from said poly(aryl ether) polyimide blends by extrusion, casting or molding; d. decomposing said polyimide in said shaped article into low molecular weight fragments by chemical means; and e. removing said low molecular weight fragments from said article.
- 46. The process of claim 45 wherein said poly(aryl ether) in said first blend or said at least one additional blend is polyphenylene oxide, or polysulfone.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/467,987, filed May 5, 2003.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60467987 |
May 2003 |
US |