Preparation of Silicone Rubber Membrane and its Porosity

Silicone Rubber Membrane의 제조 및 기공특성

Membrane process has been employed to separate a specific substance from gas or liquid mixture, and treat wastewater. This is due to the fact that the substance of mixture can be permeated and separated selectively by membrane. Since Initial equipment and operation costs are not expensive, membrane process has been adopted in various fields such as petroleum Industry, chemistry, polymer, electronics, foods, biochemical industry and wastewater treatment. In this study, $CaCO_3$ particles impregnated in silicone rubber network were extracted by using supercritical carbon dioxide and pore distribution of silicone $rubber-CaCO_3$ was investigated with varying amount of extract. Silicone rubber has excellent mechanical properties such as heat-resistance, cold-resistance etc. and $CaCO_3$ has microporous structure. It is possible to make silicone $rubber-CaCO_3$ composite sheets via work-intensive kneading processes. In so doing $CaCO_3$ particles become distributed and impregnated in silicone rubber network. Supercritical carbon dioxide diffuse through composite sample, then sample is swollen. $CaCO_3$ in silicone rubber network Is dissolved in supercritical carbon dioxide, and its sites become pores. Pore distribution, pore shape and surface area are observed by SEM(scanning electron microscope) micrograph and BET surface area analyzer examination respectively. Pore characteristics of membrane suggest the possibilities that the membrane can be used for process of mixture separation and wastewater treatment.