Characterization of microfiltration membranes byin situ wettingin the ESEM, FT IR mapping and 3D reconstruction

Membrane investigation methods were developed which delivers spatially resolved results in the μmrange. The respective experimental setup enables wetting and drying of the membrane within thespecimen chamber of an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). The possibility torecord images of the surfaces of wet specimens at high resolution and the simultaneous recording of thetemperatures at both membrane surfaces makes the ESEM a perfect tool for the study of physical andchemical processes on the microscale. Correlation of these results gained at the micro- and macroscalegives detailed information of the membrane behaviour in real conditions. Thus, this method enables theinvestigation of membrane properties changes caused by chemical treatments like cleaning agents.Additionally, IR mappings at cross sections of pristine and treated membranes were performed bytransmission FT-IR. Furthermore, by using serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBEM) adetailed 3D reconstruction of the whole membrane cross section can be obtained.