Fabrication and characterization of novel foaming polyurethane hollow fiber membrane

Foam-like materials had attracted great interest as promising absorbent. In this study, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) block sponge was synthesized. Polyester (PET) braid tubular reinforced polyurethane (PU) spongy hollow fiber membrane was prepared by a concentric circular spinning method. The method was woven from an outer coated water-blown PU separation layer and inner PET braid tubular. We have developed a simple and useful preparation technique for the PU spongy hollow fiber membrane. For the first time, the PU spongy hollow fiber membrane was prepared using a coating and controlled foaming technique. The influence of toluene isocyanate index on the physical properties, morphology, and structure of flexible PU sponge was discussed in terms of water contact angle (CA), pure water flux (PWF), Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis (FTIR), pressure-responsive property, and pull-out strength. The morphologies of the membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy. We have characterized the foams from an intuitive point of view and demonstrated that the dimensional morphology of the membrane was closely related to isocyanate index. The result showed that the surface cell size of the PU sponge hollow fiber membrane gradually decreased with an increase of the isocyanate index. Due to the elasticity of PU at room temperature, the pressure responsive characteristic of the membrane was prepared. When isocyanate index was 1.05, the interface bonding strength of PU spongy hollow fiber membranes reached as high as 0.37 MPa, porosity and PWF were 71.5% and 415.5 L·m−2·h−1, respectively.