Paste extrusion control and its influence on pore size properties of PTFE membranes

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a remarkable membrane material. Owing to its high-melting point, PTFE fine powder cannot be processed using conventional melting processing methods. Instead, techniques such as paste extrusion, rolling, and sintering have to be employed. Each processing step has an important influence on the final pore size quality within the membrane. In this paper, a PID controller (proportional-integral-derivative controller) was used to improve the properties of PTFE paste during the extrusion process and the quality of the PTFE membrane. A range of lubricant content (18, 20, and 22 wt%) was used to monitor the pressure drop at different extrusion speeds (0.5, 1, and 2 mm/s) and reduction ratios (RR = 26.47, 47.06, 80.06). It was found that a higher lubricant content and a higher reduction ratio resulted in a lower pressure drop. It was also found that a higher stretching temperature tends to result in larger pore size and broader pore size distribution at the same stretching rate. At a monitored and controlled constant low-extrusion speed, the porosity of PTFE membrane was increased from 38% to 55% and the mean pore size was decreased from 0.22 to 0.15 μm because of less migration and more uniform distribution of lubricant during extrusion. Properties and the associated property uniformity of the PTFE extrudate affect the subsequent membrane-forming process and the final pore size and size distribution significantly. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 26:163–172, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/adv.20099