“…Films were cut into strips of (2 x 2) cm 2 and immersed in distilled water for 48 hours, at 40 °C (Yeom and Lee, 1996). Then, the swollen size, l w , was recorded and the strips were placed in a desiccator, at 25 °C, in vacuo, until constant weight, when the dried membrane size, l d , was measured.…”