Morphological Investigation of Alumina Asymmetric Membrane by Manipulating the Sintering Temperature Profile

Abstract:

Ceramic materials have been widely utilized due to its attractive properties including high resistance to extremely harsh environments; chemical and heat, and its durability to the remarkable mechanical strength. Inorganic flat sheet films in this study were prepared by dry-wet phase inversion process followed by sintering method, which expected to produce very unique micro-structures leading to improvement in performance for various applications including catalytic reactions and filtration processes. Aluminium oxide was chosen as the main material due its known capability in filtration processes, membrane reactors and membrane catalysis applications. Polyethersulfone (PES) was used as an organic binder in the membrane dope formulation. Besides alumina and PES, the dope solution was consisted of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and arlacel as solvent and additive, respectively. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of sintering temperature on the morphology and structure of the prepared membranes. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to examine the membrane structure. Since the morphology of a membrane highly influences its mechanical properties, the membrane strength was measured using tensile test. From the SEM, preliminary cast membrane structure displayed a long finger-like near the outer and inner walls sandwiched a sponge-like structure that provided the membrane strength.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 606)
• Pages: 205-209
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.606.205
• Online since: August 2014
• Authors: H. Hasbullah*, Fadilah Mohamed, R.R. Ali, Norazana Ibrahim, Mohd Kamaruddin Abd Hamid, W.N.W. Salleh, Norhaniza Binti Yusof
• Keywords: Aluminium Oxide, Asymmetric Membrane, Inorganic Membrane, Sintering

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