The physical properties of a polymer solution that are composition- and/or temperature-dependent are among the most influential parameters to impact the dynamics and thermodynamics of the phase separation process and, as a result, the morphology formation. In this study, the impact of composition- and temperature-dependent density, heat capacity, and heat conductivity on the membrane structure formation during the thermally induced phase separation process of a high-viscosity polymer solution was investigated via coupling the Cahn-Hilliard equation for phase separation with the Fourier heat transfer equation. The variations of each physical property were also investigated in terms of different boundary conditions and initial solvent volume fractions. It was determined that the physical properties of the polymer solution have a noteworthy impact on the membrane morphology in terms of shorter phase separation time and droplet size. In addition, the influence of enthalpy of demixing in this case is critical because each physical property showed a nonhomogeneous pattern owing to the heat generation during phase separation, which in turn influenced the membrane morphology. Accordingly, it was determined that investigating spinodal decomposition without including heat transfer and the impact of physical properties on the morphology formation would lead to an inadequate understanding of the process, specifically in high-viscosity polymer solutions.
Keywords: Cahn–Hilliard equation; membrane; polymers; spinodal decomposition; thermally induced phase separation.