Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Advanced Films and Smart Packaging Systems Project Summary

规划资助：先进薄膜与智能包装系统工程研究中心项目概要

• 批准号: 1840284
• 负责人: Gary Wnek
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Case Western Reserve University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2020-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1840284&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Planning; Grant; Engineering; Research; Center

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.Global plastics demand is expected to reach 335 million tons by 2020. A significant fraction of plastics--about 42% of non-fiber materials--are used in packaging applications with many of these in the form of films, and demand is likely to increase further. While the global packaging industry is projected to have an economic impact of at least $1 Trillion by 2020, we are witnessing tensions in the packaging area. These challenges set the stage for creating a most appropriate and timely Engineering Research Center theme: the increasing materials performance expectations such as anti-counterfeiting detection and light-weighting on the one hand, and a global plastic waste crisis for which packaging materials are the major contributor on the other. Hence there is an immediate and urgent need for new approaches that melds deep fundamental knowledge of polymeric materials with an innovation mindset. This innovation mindset will have an appreciation of multiple technical and societal, and environmental considerations that will drive new developments in packaging design and utilization. This is the bold vision of a proposed ERC, and the focus of the planning grant. Four research focus areas have been identified with the benefit of four industry forums (nineteen companies represented) held at CWRU between April 2017 and May 2018. Sector-specific (e.g., food and beverage, pharma) themes were considered but discarded in favor of broad thrusts that transcend multiple sector needs. The research focus areas are 1) Security and Safety, 2) Surfaces and Interfaces, 3) Selective Transport/Barrier Properties, and 4) Sustainability. Each is rich with the opportunity for fundamental understanding coupled with the potential for significant positive societal impact. Examples include (1) the prevention of microbial contamination of foods and the authentication of pharmaceutical compounds that travel a complex supply chain are two pressing issues in need of creative solutions; (2) tactile sensing and the connection between measurable surface properties (roughness, tack, stiction) and human emotive responses; (3) novel processing approaches coupled with judicious choice of materials and significantly reduce diffusivity of water and oxygen for improved barrier properties of packaging films; and (4) sustainable materials such as bioplastics with attention to high value add that can strongly drive adoption. The planning grant will significantly accelerate the pace and impact of the research activities through interactions with multiple industry partners and with several university partners. The Ohio State University, Michigan State University, The Cleveland Institute of Art bring strengths in packaging design and food innovation to compliment and leverage the deep polymer expertise at Case Western Research University. Importantly, the multi-institutional team will collectively educate the next generation of researchers who will be deployed to address the many exciting challenges and opportunities in the packaging area over the coming decades.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

工程研究中心竞赛的计划赠款是在ERC计划中作为试点招标进行的。在全面的ERC竞争中，不需要计划赠款，但旨在在团队之间建立能力，以计划收敛的中心尺度工程研究。全球塑料需求预计到2020年将达到3.35亿吨。 - 在包装应用中，有42％的非纤维材料以膜形式用于包装应用，并且需求可能会进一步增加。虽然预计到2020年，全球包装行业的经济影响至少为1万亿美元，但我们目睹了包装区的紧张局势。这些挑战为创建最合适，最及时的工程研究中心的主题奠定了基础：一方面的材料绩效期望不断提高，例如反击探测和轻度加权，以及全球塑料浪费危机，包装材料是主要的。另一个贡献者。因此，对新方法的直接和迫切需要，将聚合物材料与创新心态融合在一起。这种创新的思维方式将对多种技术和社会的考虑以及环境方面的考虑，这将推动包装设计和利用方面的新发展。 这是拟议的ERC的大胆愿景，也是计划赠款的重点。在2017年4月至2018年5月之间在CWRU举行的四个行业论坛（代表的十九家公司）的利益中，已经确定了四个研究重点领域。超越多个部门需求的推力。研究重点领域是1）安全性和安全性，2）表面和接口，3）选择性运输/屏障特性以及4）可持续性。每个人都有丰富的机会，有基本理解的机会，以及产生重大积极社会影响的潜力。 示例包括（1）预防食物的微生物污染以及对复杂供应链旅行的药物化合物的身份验证是需要创造性解决方案的两个紧迫问题； （2）触觉感应以及可测量的表面特性（粗糙度，钉子，陈述）和人类情感反应之间的联系； （3）新型加工方法，加上明智的材料选择，并显着降低水和氧的扩散，以改善包装膜的屏障特性； （4）可持续材料，例如生物塑料，关注高价值的添加，可以强烈推动采用。计划赠款将通过与多个行业合作伙伴以及与多个大学合作伙伴的互动来大大加快研究活动的步伐和影响。 俄亥俄州立大学，密歇根州立大学，克利夫兰艺术学院带来了包装设计和食品创新方面的优势，以补充和利用Case Western Research Insiveral的深层聚合物专业知识。重要的是，多机构的团队将集体教育下一代研究人员，他们将在未来几十年中被部署，以应对包装领域的许多令人兴奋的挑战和机遇。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评估标准进行评估。