Preparation and Properties of Polycarbonate/ Polysulfone Blend Membranes for Potential Application in Water Tretment

The shortage of pure water caused by industries and population growth is the challenge in the world. Purification of sewage and contaminated surface water is one of the ways to solve the problem. Membrane separation processes using high performance membranes have been the focus of researches in this field. In this paper, blend membranes of polycarbonate and polysulfone were fabricated by blending 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 %wt. of polysulfone with polycarbonate and their properties were evaluated for potential performance in water treatment. By introducing polysulfone engineering polymer into polycarbonate commodity polymer, balanced properties and cost was attained. Based on the results of the microscopic images, a combined morphology of polycarbonate and polysulfone was obtained in the blend membrane samples. By adding polysulfone to polycarbonate, the contact angle decreased and as a result, the surface porosity and water absorption increased. Also, the results of the tensile test confirmed the improvement of mechanical properties including tensile strength and elongation at break in the presence of polysulfone. In this way, based on the attained results, in the continuation of the research, the performance of membranes for water purification will be investigated and the optimal sample will be introduced.