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a) b - École Polytechnique de Montréal

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Four samples based on the ternary and quaternary systems of HDPE, PS, PMMA and PVDF will<br />

be the principal substrates used in subsequent experiments reported in this paper. These blends<br />

are shown in Table 5-2 and are <strong>de</strong>signated as samples A-33%HDPE/33%PS/33%PVDF; B-<br />

33%HDPE/33%PMMA/33%PVDF; C-33%HDPE/30%PS/10%PMMA/20%PVDF; and D-<br />

33%HDPE/10%PS/40%PMMA/10%PVDF. It is possible to generate porous substrates of an<br />

even higher void volume (lower concentration of HDPE), however the mechanical strength of<br />

those materials is quite low. Since the study of the effect of load on the conductivity of the<br />

sample is also one of the objectives of this work, the above concentrations were selected. These<br />

blends effectively allows for the preparation of an ultra low surface area, fully interconnected<br />

porous substrate of high void volume.<br />

5.4.2 Annealing the Samples in or<strong>de</strong>r to Increase Pore Size<br />

It has been shown in previous work that annealing co-continuous polymer blends is an excellent<br />

route towards significantly increasing the phase size and further lowering phase surface area.<br />

During this process of static annealing, thin parts of the continuous network merge into larger<br />

parts via capillary driving forces(Zhenhua Yuan, 2005).<br />

152

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