연구에서 Poly(ethylene-co-vinylalcohol) EVOH 중공사막은 열유도상분리(TIPS)법을 이용하여 제조하였다. 다양한 조건에서 제조된 모든 분리막에서 액-액 상분리에 의해 기공이 서로 연결되어 있는 스폰지 구조가 관찰되었다. 글리세롤과 PEG200은 TIPS 방법에서 희석제로 사용하였고, 냉각조에 글리세롤을 혼합한 냉매를 사용하여 중공사 외표면의 기공을 조절하였다. 또한 혼합냉매의 온도를 높여 큰 기공의 형성을 유도하였다. 본 연구에서는 고분자의 농도, 희석제, 냉각조의 영향에 따른 분리막의 구조, 투과도, 기계적 강도에 대해 실험을 통해 알아보고 상호관계에 대해 심도 있게 연구하였다.

In this study, the silica-based hybrid material with high barrier property was prepared by incorporating ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer, which has been utilized as packaging materials due to its superior gas permeation resistance, during sol-gel process. In preparation of this EVOH/SiO2 hybrid coating materials, the (3-glycidoxy-propyl)-trimethoxysilane (GPTMS) as a silane coupling agent was employed to promote interfacial adhesion between organic and inorganic phases. As confirmed from FT-IR analysis, the physical interaction between two phases was improved due to the increased hydrogen bonding, resulting in homogeneous microstructure with dispersion of nano-sized silica particles. However, depending on the range of content of added silane coupling agent (GPTMS), micro-phase separated microstructure in the hybrid could be observed due to insufficient interfacial attraction or possibility of polymerization reaction of epoxide ring in GPTMS. The oxygen barrier property of the mono-layer coated BOPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene) film was examined for the hybrids containing various GPTMS contents. Consequently, it is revealed that GPTMS should be used in an optimum level of content to produce the high barrier EVOH/SiO2 hybrid material with an improved optical transparency and homogeneous phase morphology.