Membranes Prepared from a Blend of Poly(acrylic Acid) and Natural Rubber-Graft-Poly(vinyl Alcohol) (PAA/NR-g-PVA)

The blend membranes from PAA and NR-graft-PVA were prepared. By introducing potassium persulfate (KPS) initiator, PVA can be chemically attached to the NR latex particles which was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Most of added-PVA was grafted on the NR latex particles as indicated by the almost-linear increasing of grafting percentage. The swelling of the PAA/NR-g-PVA blend membranes was performed in different concentrations of water-ethanol solutions. For the water concentration lesser than 30 vol.%, all membranes showed almost no-swelling but beyond 30 vol.% water, the degree of swelling revealed the substantial swelling with the degree of swelling increased as PAA content in the membrane increased.