SBIR Phase I: A New Thermoplastic Hydrogel (TPH)

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将研究一种新型热塑性水凝胶(TPH)的合成和生产。TPH将通过对聚-2-乙氧唑啉进行改性而制成，聚-2-乙基恶唑啉是一种商业聚合物。新的TPH在冷时将具有交联型体系的特性，但在加热时会流动。这一性质对于水凝胶来说是独一无二的，通常是共价交联体系，由于工艺限制，它们的使用受到限制。TPH将能够由最终用户挤压或模塑成几乎任何形式，从而允许制造今天无法制造的新产品。水溶性聚合物具有较高的热稳定性，是一种理想的候选材料。这个项目将描述两种将接枝聚合物附着到聚合物主干上的方法。从大批量生产的角度来看，这两条路线都是可行的。TPH的应用将包括：医疗产品(导管、隐形眼镜和合成伤口敷料)、粘合剂、可回收的高吸水剂、喷墨打印介质和各种农业材料。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate the synthesis and production of a new thermoplastic hydrogel (TPH). The TPH will be made by the modification of poly-2-ethyloxazoline, a commercially available polymer. The new TPH will have the properties of a crosslinked system when cold but will flow when heated. This property is unique for hydrogels, typically covalently crosslinked systems, which are limited in their use due to process restrictions. The TPH will have the ability to be extruded or molded by the end user into virtually any form, allowing the manufacture of new products that cannot be made today. The water soluble polymer is an ideal candidate due to its high thermal stability. This project will describe two routes for attaching graft polymers onto the polymer backbone. Both routes are viable from a high volume production standpoint.Applications of the TPH would include: medical products (catheters, contact lenses, and synthetic wound dressings), adhesives, recyclable super absorbents, ink jet printer media, and a variety of agricultural materials.