Synthesis and Analysis of Gas/Polymer Solutions for Ultra- Microcellular Plastics Production

PI发明了一种制造新型聚合材料的工艺，并申请了专利，他称之为微孔塑料。该过程包括气体/聚合物溶液的形成和其热力学不稳定性的诱导，形成大量（1015个细胞/cm3）直径在10-6米量级的微泡或细胞。这些细胞比聚合物中存在的缺陷要小，因此不会损害聚合物的特定机械性能。这既可以在室温下进行，也可以在较高的温度下进行。该技术已得到进一步的发展和商业化的工业。提出的研究目标是确定聚合物中超气体浓度的基本机制，并开发一类新的材料，PI称之为超微细胞塑料，其特点是细胞直径为10-7米，细胞密度为1018个细胞/cm3的母材料。了解控制聚合物中超气体浓度的物理现象可以用来影响这些材料的性能-结构-性能-加工关系，并有助于设计制造PI计划生产的新型，甚至更致密的泡沫的程序。与母材和其他泡沫相比，超微孔塑料具有潜在的优势，如透明度、高冲击强度、增加的强度重量比以及改善的热性能和介电性能。在更广泛的范围内，了解这些材料合成过程中涉及的基本现象可以用于开发工业技术，例如环保发泡技术、滤光片、光学材料、绝缘材料和摄影胶片的基材。

The PI has invented and patented a process for making a new class of polymeric materials which he calls microcellular plastics. The process consists of the formation of a gas/polymer solution and the inducement of its thermodynamic instability to nucleate a very large number (1015 cells/cm3) of microbubbles or cells which are on the order of 10-6m in diameter. These cells are smaller than the flaws that preexist within polymers and thus do not compromise the polymer's specific mechanical properties. This can be done at room temperature as well as at higher temperatures. The technology has been further developed and commercialized by industry. The goals of the proposed research are to determine the fundamental mechanisms of super gas concentration in polymers and to develop a new class of materials, which the PI is calling ultra-microcellular plastics, which are characterized by cell sizes on the order of 10-7m in diameter and cell densities of the order of 1018 cells/cm3 of parent material. Understanding the physical phenomena governing super gas concentration in polymers can be used to affect the performance-structure-property-processing relationship of these materials and help design procedures to manufacture the new, even more densely packed foams that the PI is planning to produce. Ultra-microcellular plastics have potential advantages over the parent material and over other foams such as transparency, high-impact strength, increased strength-to- weight ratio, and improved thermal and dielectric properties. On a broader scale, understanding the fundamental phenomena involved in the synthesis of these materials could be used to develop industrial technologies for example for environmentally-safe foaming technologies, filters, optical materials, insulation materials, and substrates for photographic films.