EAGER: Do Nanofoams Have a Natural Vacuum Inside the Cells?

EAGER：纳米泡沫的细胞内有自然真空吗？

• 批准号: 1253072
• 负责人: Vipin Kumar
• 金额: $ 6.99万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1253072&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Do; Nanofoams; Natural; Vacuum

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) provides funding for conducting experiments to develop a process to create polymer foams with nanoscale cell size. It has been hypothesized that nanocellular foams (or nanofoams) may be able to achieve a natural vacuum inside cells, provided the cell size is smaller than the mean free path of gas/air molecules at standard atmospheric conditions. The proposed research will test this hypothesis by creating nanofoams that have cell diameters smaller than 70 nm, the mean-free-path for air molecules. A novel processing strategy to reduce cell size based on reduced polymer surface energy will be explored. The thermal conductivity of the nanofoams will be measured and compared to foams with microscale cells as well as solid polymer.If successful, this research could enable the production of foams with thermal insulation values as much as double that of microcellular polymer foams. Such foams could significantly impact the construction industry by improved insulation properties or the electronics industry by enabling further miniaturization through reduced material need.

这项探索性研究的早期概念赠款（急切）为进行实验提供了资金，以开发一个过程，以创建具有纳米级细胞大小的聚合物泡沫。 已经假设纳米细胞泡沫（或纳米泡沫）可能能够在细胞内实现天然真空，前提是细胞大小小于在标准大气条件下气体/空气分子的平均自由路径。拟议的研究将通过创建具有小于70 nm的细胞直径（空气分子平均无路径）的纳米体来检验这一假设。将探索一种基于减少聚合物表面能量的细胞大小的新型加工策略。将测量纳米体的热导率，并将其与具有显微镜细胞和固体聚合物的泡沫进行比较。如果成功，这项研究可以使具有热绝缘值的泡沫产生高达两倍的微细胞聚合物泡沫。这样的泡沫可以通过改善的隔热性能或电子行业来重大影响建筑行业，通过减少材料需求实现进一步的小型化。