POLYMER COMPOSITION AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MEMBRANES THEREFROM

1 . A composition (C) comprising:

(a) at least one poly(arylene sulfide) (PAS) polymer,

(b) at least one polyelectrolyte (E), and

(c) at least one compound (S), wherein compound (S) is a salt of an aromatic compound, said salt comprising an aromatic group and at least one sulfonate or carboxylate of a metal selected from the group consisting of alkaline metals, alkaline-earth metals, aluminum, iron, zinc, nickel, copper, palladium and silver.

2 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein polymer (PAS) comprises recurring units (R PAS1 ) represented by the following formula:

[—Ar 1 —S—]  (R PAS1 )

wherein

—Ar 1 — is selected from the group of formulae consisting of:

wherein:

R, at each instance, is independently selected from the group consisting of a C 1 -C 12 alkyl group, a C 7 -C 24 alkylaryl group, a C 7 -C 24 aralkyl group, a C 6 -C 24 arylene group, and a C 6 -C 18 aryloxy group;

T is selected from the group consisting of a bond, —CO—, —SO 2 —, —O—, —C(CH 3 ) 2 —, —C(CF 3 ) 2 —, phenyl, and —CH 2 —;

i, at each instance, is an independently selected integer from 0 to 4;

j, at each instance, is an independently selected integer from 0 to 3.

3 . The composition of claim 2 , wherein polymer (PAS) is a poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) polymer having units (R PAS1 ) of formula:

and which optionally additionally comprise units of any of formulae:

wherein when polymer (PPS) further comprises units (R PPS-m ) and/or (R PPS-o ), the total concentration of recurring units (R PPS-m ) and/or (R PPS-o ) in the polymer (PPS) is at most 10 mol %, based on total amount of units (R PPS ), (R PPS-m ) and (R PPS-o ).

4 . The composition (C) of claim 3 ,

wherein polymer (PAS) is a polymer (PPS) consisting essentially of units (R PAS1 ) of formula (R PPS ):

 and/or

wherein the polymer (PAS) has a melt flow rate (at 315.6° C. under a weight of 1.27 kg according to ASTM D1238, procedure B) of at most 700 g/10 min; and/or

wherein the polymer (PAS) has a melting point of at least 240° C., and/or of at most 320° C., when determined by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) according to ASTM D3418.

5 . The composition (C) according to claim 1 ,

wherein the polyelectrolyte (E) is a polymer having recurring units, said recurring units possessing an acid group, selected from groups of formulae:

with X p being a p-valent cation, with p being 1, 2 or 3.

6 . The composition (C) according to claim 1 ,

wherein the polyelectrolyte (E) has a weight loss of less than 5 wt. %, in the temperature range from 100 and 300° C., when determined by TGA analysis according to ASTM E1131, under inert atmosphere; and/or

wherein the polyelectrolyte (E) has a solubility in water at 25° C. of at least 1.0 g/l, and/or possesses an average molecular weight of exceeding 500.

7 . The composition (C) according to claim 1 ,

wherein polyelectrolyte (E) is selected from the group consisting of sulfonated aromatic-formaldehyde condensation products, polymers (Ar—S).

8 . The composition (C) of claim 7 , wherein polyelectrolyte (E) is a polymer (Ar—S), which is selected from polymers (N—S) which comprise recurring units (R NPS ) of formula (R NPS -1):

wherein X p is a cation of valency p, with p being 1, 2 or 3, and which may comprise recurring units of formulae (R NPS -2) and (R NPS -3)

with n being an integer 1 to 3,

wherein, the molar fraction of units (R NPS -1) exceeds 50% moles of total units (R NPS -1), (R NPS -2) and (R NPS -3).

9 . The composition according to claim 1 , wherein said compound (S) complies with the following formula (I):

(R) a —Ar-(T) b   (I)

wherein

Ar is an aromatic moiety selected from the group consisting of substituted or unsubstituted, aromatic monocyclic or polycyclic group having 5 to 18 carbon atoms,

a is zero or an integer ranging from 1 to 5;

when a is an integer from 1 to 5, each of R, identical or different from each other, is selected from the group consisting of a halogen atom, —OH, —NH 2 , a C 1 -C 18 aliphatic group, a C 1 -C 18 cycloaliphatic group and a C 1 -C 18 aromatic group;

b is an integer ranging from 1 to 4;

each of T, identical or different from each other, is (SO 3 − )(M p± ) 1/p or (COO − )(M p+ ) 1/p wherein M p+ is a metal cation of p valence selected from the group consisting of alkaline metals, alkaline-earth metals, aluminium, iron, zinc, nickel, copper, palladium and silver; and

wherein, said group —Ar— in formula (I) is selected from the group consisting of:

wherein

Z is a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of —SO 2 —, —CO— and (halo)alkylenes of 1 to 6 carbon atoms.

10 . The composition according to claim 9 , wherein compound (S) is selected from the group consisting of sodium or potassium benzoate, sodium or potassium methyl benzoate, sodium or potassium ethylbenzoate, sodium or potassium butylbenzoate, sodium or potassium benzene sulfonate, sodium or potassium benzene-1,3-disulfonate, sodium or potassium p-toluene sulfonate, sodium or potassium xylenesulfonate, sodium or potassium cumene sulfonate, sodium or potassium para-cymene sulfonate, sodium or potassium n-butyl benzene sulfonate, sodium or potassium iso-butyl benzene sulfonate, sodium or potassium tert-butyl benzene sulfonate and sodium or potassium dodecylbenzenesulfonate.

11 . The composition according to claim 1 , wherein:

said composition (C) comprises said at least one polymer (PAS) in an amount from 25 wt. % to 65 wt. % based on the total weight of said composition (C); and/or

said composition (C) comprises said at least one polyelectrolyte (E) in an amount from 5 wt. % to 50 wt. % based on the total weight of said composition (C); and/or

said composition (C) comprises said at least one compound (S) in an amount from 5 wt. % to 50 wt. % based on the total weight of said composition (C).

12 . The composition according to claim 11 , wherein said composition (C) comprises:

polymer (PPS), wherein polymer (PPS) is a poly(phenylene sulfide) polymer having units (R PAS1 ) of formula:

 and which may additionally comprise units of any of formulae:

wherein when polymer (PPS) further comprises units (R PPS-m ) and/or (R PPS-o ), the total concentration of recurring units (R PPS-m ) and/or (R PPS-o ) in the polymer (PPS) is at most 10 mol %, based on total amount of units (R PPS ), (R PPS-m ) and (R PPS-o ),

in an amount from 25 wt. % to 65 wt. %;

polymer (Ar—S), wherein polymer (Ar—S) is selected from the group consisting of sulfonated aromatic-formaldehyde condensation products,

in an amount from 5 wt. % to 50 wt; and

compound (S) of formula (I): (R) a —Ar-(T) b ,

wherein

Ar is an aromatic moiety selected from the group consisting of substituted or unsubstituted, aromatic monocyclic or polycyclic group having 5 to 18 carbon atoms,

a is zero or an integer ranging from 1 to 5;

when a is an integer from 1 to 5, each of R, identical or different from each other, is selected from the group consisting of a halogen atom, —OH, —NH 2 , a C 1 -C 18 aliphatic group, a C 1 -C 18 cycloaliphatic group and a C 1 -C 18 aromatic group;

b is an integer ranging from 1 to 4;

each of T, identical or different from each other, is (SO 3 − )(M p+ ) 1/p or (COO − )(M p+ ) 1/p wherein M p+ is a metal cation of p valence selected from the group consisting of alkaline metals, alkaline-earth metals, aluminium, iron, zinc, nickel, copper, palladium and silver; and

wherein, said group —Ar— in formula (I) is selected from the group consisting of:

wherein

Z is a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of —SO 2 —, —CO— and (halo)alkylenes of 1 to 6 carbon atoms;

in an amount from 5 wt. % to 50 wt. %,

the amounts being based on the total weight of said composition (C).

13 . A method (M C ) of making a composition (C) according to claim 1 , said method comprises blending at least one polymer (PAS), at least one polyelectrolyte (E) and at least one compound (S), wherein said blending is carried out in a melt-mixing apparatus.

14 . A method [method (M Q )] for the manufacture of a microporous article (P P ), said method comprising

(I) melt processing a composition (C) according to claim 1 , thus providing a precursor article (A P );

(II) contacting said article (A P ) as obtained in step (I) with at least one leaching medium, so as to at least partially remove polyelectrolyte (E) and compound (S), thus providing said article (P P ).

15 . The method (M Q ) of claim 14 wherein:

in step (I), composition (C) is melt processed using a melt processing technology selected from extrusion molding, injection molding, cast molding, melt spinning; and/or

in Step (I), after melt processing of composition (C), article (A P ) is appropriately cooled below the melting temperature and/or glass transition temperature of the polymer (PAS); and/or

Step (II) is performed by placing said article (A P ) in a bath comprising at least one leaching medium selected from the group consisting of aqueous media and organic solvent media.

16 . A porous article (article (P P )) obtained from the method of claim 14 .

17 . The composition of claim 2 , wherein —Ar 1 — is represented by any of the following formulae:

Wherein

R, at each instance, is independently selected from the group consisting of a C 1 -C 12 alkyl group, a C 7 -C 24 alkylaryl group, a C 7 -C 24 aralkyl group, a C 6 -C 24 arylene group, and a C 6 -C 18 aryloxy group; and

i, at each instance, is an independently selected integer from 0 to 4.

18 . The composition (C) according to claim 7 , wherein polymers (Ar—S) comprise units of formula (R APS ):

wherein:

the symbol

 denotes an aromatic group, which may be mononuclear or polynuclear, may be condensed or not;

X p is a p-valent cation, with p being 1, 2 or 3;

q is zero or an integer of 1 or more; and

in each recurring unit of formula (R APS ), m is zero or an integer of 1 to 4, with the provision that the average value of m, which is also referred to as degree of sulfonation (D.S.) is comprised from about 0.4 to about 1.4.

19 . The composition according to claim 9 , wherein compound (S) complies with the following formula (II):