Barrier Properties of Flake-Filled Membranes: Review and Numerical Evaluation

Abstract

Flake-filled polymer membranes belong to an emerging class of composite materials that show promise as barrier materials in many industrial applications. Though the barrier property enhancement in flake-filled membranes is well known, its dependence on microstructural factors, such as flake spatial distribution, size dispersion, and orientation is not well understood. This study presents a micromechanics-based, direct numerical approach to predicting the barrier improvement factors of flake-filled membranes. Numerical calculations are conducted in two-dimensions for composite membranes containing aligned, impermeable flakes, using the fast multipole-accelerated boundary element method. Theoretical models which predict the barrier properties of flake-filled membranes are reviewed and their predictions compared with the boundary element calculations.

Keywords

barrier membrane diffusion numerical modeling fast multipole-accelerated boundary element method.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cussler, E.L. , Hughes, S.E. , Ward, W.J. and Aris, R. (1988). Barrier Membranes, Journal of Membrane Science, 38(2): 161—174.

Ray, S.S. and Okamoto, M. (2003). Polymer/Layered Silica Nanocomposites: A Review from Preparation to Processing, Progress in Polymer Science, 28(11): 1539—1641.

Eitzman, D.M. , Melkote, R.R. and Cussler, E.L. (1996). Barrier Membranes with Tipped Impermeable Flakes, AIChE Journal, 42(1): 1—9.

Lan, T. , Kaviratna, P.D. and Pinnavaia, T.J. (1994). On the Nature of Polyimide Clay Hybrid Composites , Chemistry of Materials, 6(5): 573—575.

Messersmith, P.B. and Giannelis , E.P. (1995). Synthesis and Barrier Properties of Poly(epsilon-caprolactone)-layered Silicate Nanocomposites, Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 33(7): 1047—1057.

Yano, K. , Usuki, A. and Okada, A. (1997). Synthesis and Properties of Polyimide-Clay Hybrid Films, Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry , 35(11): 2289—2294.

Rayleigh, L. (1892). On the Influence of Obstacles Arranged in a Rectangular Order upon the Properties of Medium, Philosophical Magazine, 34: 481—502.

Tucker, C.L. and Advani, S.G. (1994). Processing of Short-fiber Systems, In: Flow and Rheology in Polymer Composite Manufacturing, pp. 147—202, Elsevier, New York.

Nielsen, L.E. (1967). Models for Permeability of Filled Polymer Systems, Journal of Macromolecular Science , A1(5): 929—942.

10.

Aris, R. (1986). On a Problem in Hindered Diffusion, Archives for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, 95(2): 83—91.

11.

Wakeham, W.A. and Mason, E.A. (1979). Diffusion through Multiperforate Laminae, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Fundamentals , 18(4): 301—306.

12.

Falla, W.R. , Mulski, M. and Cussler, E.L. (1996). Estimating Diffusion through Flake-filled Membranes , J. Membr. Sci., 119(1): 129—138.

13.

Lape, N.K. , Nuxoll, E.E. and Cussler, E.L. (2004). Polydisperse Flakes in Barrier Films, Journal of Membrane Science, 236(1): 29—37.

14.

Fredrickson, H.G. and Bicerano, J. (1999). Barrier Properties of Oriented Disk Composites, J. Chem. Phys., 110(4): 2181—2188.

15.

Brebbia, C.A. and Dominguez, J. (1992). Boundary Elements: An Introduction Course, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.

16.

Greengard, L.F. and Rokhlin, V. (1987). A Fast Algorithm for Particle Simulations, Journal of Computational Physics, 73(2): 325—348.

17.

Nishimura, N. (2002). Fast Multipole Accelerated Boundary Integral Equation Methods, Applied Mechanics Reviews , 55(4): 299—324.

18.

Liu, Y.J. and Nishimura, N. (2006). The Fast Multipole Boundary Element Method for Potential Problems: A Tutorial, Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 30(5): 371—381.

19.

20.

Swannack, C. , Cox, C. , Liakos, A. and Hirt, D. (2005). A Three-dimensional Simulation of Barrier Properties of Nanocomposite Films, J. Membr. Sci ., 263(1): 47—56.

21.

Gusev, A.A. and Lusti, H.R. (2001). Rational Design of Nanocomposites for Barrier Applications, Advanced Materials , 13(21): 1641—1643.