Advancing the Engineering Design of Bionanocomposites with Controlled Properties

这项资助的目的是建立关于纳米颗粒大小、形状和团聚结构对生物聚合物结构和性能影响的基本科学知识。研究目标是通过定制纳米颗粒的大小、形状和聚合物的化学微观结构，实现具有理想性能的生物材料的设计、改进和应用。含有纳米（1 - 100纳米）颗粒的填充生物聚合物，即生物纳米复合材料，可以为最广泛使用的石油基聚合物提供具有相同或更好性能的可再生替代品，并实现新的应用。在这个项目中，我们利用我们独特的小角度光散射能力，结合x射线衍射模拟，多尺度建模和一套互补的测量技术，来建立对新开发的商业生物聚合物及其复合材料的结构-性能关系的强有力的理解，这些生物聚合物已经成为晶体合成聚合物的竞争对手。控制生物纳米复合材料的增强性能需要了解纳米填料和生物聚合物基质的局部（纳米尺度）和全局（微尺度）结构。该研究的具体成果包括：1)为实现对生物纳米复合材料性能的基本控制建立新的知识；2)为构建预测力学和屏障性能的多尺度模型提供结构和形态信息；3)为发现具有成本效益的生物纳米复合材料制造技术提供基础科学知识。该项目的更广泛影响是，它将提供一个框架，推动生物纳米复合材料的设计和发现具有成本效益的制造技术，应用于消费品包装、粘合剂、涂料和许多其他领域。能够控制生物材料的特性将在商业和工业过程中取得重大进展。参与该计划的学生将亲身体验散射技术（光和x射线），多尺度（连接）建模方法和数据（x射线）模拟的集成，以实现突破性的科学发现。PI是全国黑人工程师协会的导师，并与阿贡国家实验室和国家标准与技术研究所合作。

The aim of this grant is to build basic scientific knowledge on the effects of nanoparticle size, shape, and agglomerate structure on biopolymer structure and properties. The research goals that are being addressed are to enable the design, advancement, and application of biomaterials with desirable properties by tailoring nanoparticle size, shape and the polymer chemical microstructure. Filled biopolymers containing nanoscale (1 - 100 nm) particulates, i.e. bionanocomposites, can offer renewable alternatives to the most widely used petroleum-based polymers with equal or better properties and enable new applications. In this project we employ our unique small angle light scattering capabilities, in combination with X-ray diffraction simulations, multiscale modeling and a suite of complementary measurement techniques, to build a robust understanding of the structure-property relationship of newly developed commercially available biopolymers and their composites - which have been offered as competitors for crystalline synthetic polymers. Control over enhanced properties of bionanocomposites requires knowledge of the local (nanoscale) and global (microscale) structure of the nanofillers and the biopolymer matrix. Specific deliverables for the proposed research are 1) to build new knowledge for achieving fundamental control over the properties of bionanocomposites; 2) to provide structural and morphological information for building multiscale models that predict mechanical and barrier properties; and 3) to provide fundamental scientific knowledge for discovering cost-effective manufacturing technologies for bionanocomposites.The broader impact of the project is that it will provide a framework advancing the design and discovery cost-effective manufacturing technologies for bionanocomposites with applications in consumer packaging, adhesives, coatings and many more areas. Enabling the control of biomaterial properties will lead to significant advances in both commercial and industrial processes. Students participating in this program experience (first hand) the integration of scattering techniques (light and X-rays), multi-scale (connectivity) modeling approaches, and data (X-ray) simulation for breakthrough scientific discovery. The PI is a mentor for the National Society of Black Engineers and collaborates with Argonne National Laboratory and National Institute of Standards and Technology.