Microlayer Polymeric Composites

在该奖项中，由材料研究部的聚合物计划和土木工程与机械系统司的材料力学与结构计划共同资助，将使用新颖的层叠技术将聚合物片材或薄膜与成百上千个两种或多种材料的交替层共挤出。从宏观(几十微米)到微米(几微米)，最后到纳米(几十纳米)的层厚度将被创造出来。由于需要新的加工技术来开发未来的工程微结构，CWRU创建了一个微层设施。该设备包括一个双组分工艺，生产具有交替聚合物A和聚合物B层的片材或薄膜。第二个系统在A和B的每一层之间的界面上增加第三个“结合层”(聚合物C)。提出了一个研究计划，以探索通过这种多功能工艺可以实现的新材料系统的可能性。拟议的研究旨在建立在先前研究最有希望的方面，并在新的机会领域进行创新。具体目标集中在：(1)扩大共挤出过程的灵活性以创建新的各向异性结构，(2)以新的方式结合无机成分以产生具有设计的电子性能的材料，(3)创建具有增强的阻挡性能的微层和纳米层材料，以及(4)探索与聚合物共混和合金化的基本方面相关的聚合物粘合的性质。%最终，以微层和纳米层共挤出为例的“微加工”可以成为创建具有特定波长的辐射并另外具有阻挡特性或不寻常的电子特性的“智能皮肤”、薄膜和片材的基础。参与研究的研究生和本科生将有机会使用独特的共挤出工艺来设计和实现以前不可能实现的材料系统。通过书面和口头交流，这项多功能技术的成果将转化为包括工业部门在内的整个领域。

In this award, co-funded by The Polymers Program of the Division of Materials Research and the Mechanics & Structures of Materials Program of the Division for Civil and Mechanical Systems, novel layer-multiplying technology will be used to coextrude polymer sheet or film with hundreds or thousands of alternating layers of two or more materials. Layer thicknesses from the macroscale (tens of microns) to the microscale (several microns) and finally to the nanoscale (tens of nanometers) will be created. Motivated by the need for new processing technologies to develop the engineered microstructures of the future, a microlayer facility was created at CWRU. This facility includes a two-component process that produces sheet or film with alternating layers of polymer A and polymer B. A second system adds a third "tie" layer (polymer C) at the interface between each layer of A and B. A research program to explore the possibilities for new materials systems that can be realized with this versatile process is proposed. The proposed research intends to build on the most promising aspects of prior research and to innovate in new areas of opportunity. The specific aims focus on: (1) expanding the flexibility of the coextrusion process to create new anisotropic structures, (2) incorporating an inorganic component in novel ways to produce materials with designed electronic properties, (3) creating microlayered and nanolayered materials having enhanced barrier properties, and (4) probing the nature of polymer adhesion as related to fundamental aspects of polymer blending and alloying.%%%Ultimately, "microprocessing", as exemplified by microlayer and nanolayer coextrusion, can be the basis for creating "smart skins", film and sheet materials with radiation of specific wavelengths and additionally possess barrier characteristics or unusual electronic properties seems possible. The graduate and undergraduate students who participate in the research will have the opportunity to use a unique coextrusion process to design and realize materials systems that were not possible previously. Through written and oral communications, the results of this versatile technology will be translated to the field-at-large including the industrial sector.