A Neutron-Transparent Flow-Through Cell (NTFT-Cell) for the SANS investigation of microstructure evolution during industrial evaporative casting

Abstract

Macroporous polymeric membranes involved in the large scale purification of biopharmaceuticals (vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic enzymes etc.) are manufactured by inducing liquid-liquid demixing in a polymer solution. In this regard, evaporative casting is known to be one of the most important industrial techniques for the large scale production of such polymeric membranes. Next generation vaccines will require membranes with higher integrity and sharper pore size distributions. Time-resolved Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) is a powerful tool for the resolution of demixing processes at microscopic scale and a great approach for boosting the progress to be achieved by membrane scientists in understanding and controlling the mechanisms of membrane formation. The present contribution reports on the development of an experimental set-up using a dedicated Neutron-Transparent Flow-Through Cell (further referred as NTFT-Cell) for the characterization of liquid-liquid-demixing during industrial evaporative casting. After a detailed description of the set-up and its implementation within D11 instrument (Institut Laue-Langevin, ILL, Grenoble, France), first results from exemplary investigations in the quaternary system cellulose nitrate/methyl acetate/ispopropanol/deuterium oxide were presented.

Keywords

Small Angle Neutron Scattering Neutron Transparent Flow-Through Cell NTFT-cell demixing kinetics casting solutions membrane formation

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