New breathable and waterproof coatings for textiles: effect of an aliphatic polyurethane on the formation of PEEK-WC porous membranes

PEEK-WC is an amorphous polyetheretherketone with high chemical stability, excellent thermal resistance and significant solubility in various solvents. It has been used to prepare flat membranes by the phase inversion technique. The water vapour permeability through a porous PEEK-WC film was 1350 g/m2 day at 26 °C and its liquid entry pressure (LEP) of water equivalent to a column of 2.0 m. These values were remarkably improved by addition of an aliphatic ether polyurethane (PU) into the PEEK-WC/DMF dopes: the water vapour flux was increased up to 2000 g/m2 day and the LEP was equivalent to 12.5 m. This improvement is correlated to the different structure of the membranes: a spongy, porous and almost symmetric structure for the PEEK-WC/PU membranes, and an asymmetric structure with fingers for PEEK-WC membrane. The presence of PU influences also the mechanical properties of the blend membranes. The role of the PU on the resulting membrane morphology is rationalised on the basis of the mechanism of phase separation.