APPLICATION OF ION-BEAMS TO SYNTHESIS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIVE TRACK MEMBRANES

Heavy ion beams with energy in the order of 10 MeV/n were irradiated o nto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polydiethyleneglycol-bis-ally lcarbonate commercially known as CR-39 for producing organic porous me mbranes. The condition to obtain cylindrical pores was accounted for b y the relation of restricted energy loss, REL, from ion beams to the p olymer films with relative etching rate, Q, in the region along ion's trajectory versus non-irradiated region. Then the porous membranes wer e chemically modified by grafting such monomers as N-isopropylacrylami de and acryloyl-l-proline methyl ester onto the surface of pores to im part the characteristic of the hydrogel obtained from these polymers t o the membrane. The pore size of the membrane changed from an open sta te to a completely closed state when environmental conditions such as temperature were changed. The permeation of water, choline, insulin an d albumin through the membrane was controlled by temperature. An abrup t change of permeability was observed at the phase transition temperat ure of the hydrogel.