Design and Tailoring of Lightweight Polymer Blend Nanocomposites with Enhanced Properties

具有增强性能的轻质聚合物共混纳米复合材料的设计和定制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04058
• 负责人: Sundararaj, Uttandaraman
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739648
• 关键词: Design; Tailoring; Lightweight; Polymer; Blend

In today's marketplace, consumers demand lighter weight and smaller electronic devices with improved functionality and design options. Demand for lightweight materials is expected to reach ca. $200 billion by 2022, and polymer composites dominate the global lightweight market. In 2014, polymer nanocomposite was a $5 billion dollar industry and is projected to grow to $31 billion in 2025, yet there is little understanding about how to design these materials. Novel multiphase polymer materials, such as polymer blend nanocomposites (PBNs), are ideal candidates for electronics, automotive, military, aerospace, packaging, photovoltaics, sensors, batteries, and fuel cells. Polymer blend nanocomposites are hybrid materials of two or more polymers mixed with nanofillers. By controlling PBN structure through careful selection of components, chemistry, and fabrication, we can obtain new materials with enhanced performance and combination of properties that cannot be obtained from a single material. Use of PBNs for advanced applications like charge storage, electromagnetic interference shielding for personal electronics and military camouflage, and galactic cosmic ray shielding (vehicles for outer space) are still in their infancy. Therefore, to take full advantage of this market trend, research into PBN formulation and performance is essential. In this program, our end goal is to create property-structure-processing-synthesis maps, which will be used to design and tailor PBNs. Electrical conductivity, static discharge, charge storage and EMI shielding will be the main properties of focus. We will synthesize a variety of novel nanomaterials with specific properties (e.g. high electrical conductivity) like carbon nanotubes, graphene and nano metal wires to impart electrical properties to PBNs. We will find relationships between properties and system chemistries, flow characteristics, composition, physical properties and processing conditions. Research proposed here will train highly qualified individuals for careers in high tech industries. We will take advantage of a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and technicians to control all aspects of the design and development of PBNs. This work will be critical for Canadian manufacturers of polymer materials and the customers of these novel materials such as automotive, aerospace and electronics industries that are under constant pressure to find lower cost, lighter weight, higher performance materials. Our group has a significant advantage due to the breadth of knowledge on polymer blends and nanocomposites, which is the foundation needed to create methods to design and tailor PBNs. We can span the entire development process: synthesize inorganic nanomaterial filler; perform processing using our custom-built miniature mixers; extensive structure and material property characterization. This program will provide critical guidance to manufacturers and users of multiphase polymer materials.

在当今的市场中，消费者需要更轻的重量和较小的电子设备，并具有改进的功能和设计选择。对轻质材料的需求预计将达到CA。到2022年，2000亿美元，聚合物复合材料主导了全球轻型市场。 2014年，聚合物纳米复合材料是一个50亿美元的行业，预计在2025年将增长到310亿美元，但对如何设计这些材料几乎没有了解。新型的多相聚合物材料，例如聚合物混合纳米复合材料（PBN），是电子，汽车，军事，航空航天，包装，光伏，传感器，电池，电池和燃料电池的理想候选者。聚合物混合物纳米复合材料是混合纳米燃料的两种或多个聚合物的杂化材料。通过通过仔细选择组件，化学和制造来控制PBN结构，我们可以获得具有增强性能和属性组合的新材料，这些材料无法从单个材料中获得。使用PBN用于高级应用，例如电荷存储，个人电子和军事伪装的电磁干扰屏蔽以及银河宇宙射线屏蔽（外太空的车辆）仍处于婴儿期。因此，要充分利用这一市场趋势，对PBN配方和性能的研究至关重要。在此程序中，我们的最终目标是创建属性结构处理合成图，该图将用于设计和量身定制PBN。电导率，静电放电，电荷存储和EMI屏蔽将是焦点的主要特性。我们将合成各种具有特定性能（例如高电导率）（例如碳纳米管，石墨烯和纳米金属线）的新型纳米材料，以将电性能赋予PBN。我们将发现属性与系统化学，流量特征，组成，物理特性和处理条件之间的关系。这里提出的研究将培训高素质的高科技行业职业。我们将利用一个多学科的工程师，科学家和技术人员团队来控制PBN设计和开发的各个方面。这项工作对于加拿大聚合物材料的制造商以及这些新型材料的客户（例如汽车，航空航天和电子行业）的客户持续压力，以寻找较低的成本，更轻的重量，更高的性能材料。由于对聚合物混合物和纳米复合材料的知识广度，我们的小组具有显着优势，这是创建设计和量身定制PBN的方法所需的基础。我们可以跨越整个开发过程：合成无机纳米材料填充物；使用我们的定制微型混合器进行处理；广泛的结构和材料特性表征。该计划将为多相聚合物材料的制造商和用户提供关键的指导。