A new spinning method allows special, spinnable ORMOCER®s to be manufactured into hollow fibers with properties that can be modified according to specific applications.
Wide range of possible sites, modifications and resizing
The properties of the new inorganic-organic hollow fibers range from glass-like and brittle to rubber-like and flexible, and from gas-tight to highly permeable. The outer diameters measure from less than 100 µm up to > 10 mm. Currently, wall thicknesses of between 20 µm and 100 µm are possible. Transparency, good thermal stability and biocompatibility are other characteristics of this type of duroplastic hollow fiber.
Sol-gel technology as a key to spinnability
The key to variability lies in the dual character of the ORMOCER®s as inorganic-organic copolymers. The complex rheological preconditions for spinnability are largely created by the sol-gel process (inorganic network), whereas the organic and inorganic segments are available to modify a wide range of properties (e.g. permeability).
