Kinetics of Thermal Degradation of Polysulfone/Polyimide Blended Polymeric Membranes

Flat-sheet asymmetric polysulfone (PSF)/
polyimide (PI) blended membranes were fabricated by a
phase-inversion technique. The fabricated membranes
were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
differential scanning calorimetry, and field emission
scanning electron microscopy analyses. The kinetics of
thermal degradation of the membranes were studied from
thermogravimetric data following Friedman’s kinetic
approach. The thermal degradation process of the membranes
followed first-order rate kinetics, and the activation
energy of the thermal degradation process increased with
increasing PI content of the membrane compositions. VC 2011
Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 123: 3755–3763, 2012
Key words: activation energy; blends; degradation;
membranes; thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)