STTR Phase II: Self-Reinforced Composites Made of Immiscible Polymers from Recycled Products

STTR 第二阶段：由回收产品中的不混溶聚合物制成的自增强复合材料

• 批准号: 0848524
• 负责人: F. Daniel Tsai
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Novana, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-01-15 至 2011-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0848524&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; II; Self; Reinforced

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project is seeking to develop and commercialize a novel method for recycling immiscible polymer (IP) wastes into value-added products. In this new method, the IP waste is converted into highly-orientated filaments with a surface of a relatively lower melting point polymer and a core of a relatively higher melting point polymer. These high-strength bicomponent fibers are then processed into desired composite components by melting and fusing the surface polymer; because only the surface polymer is melted during processing, the end product is reinforced by its high-strength core fibril of the higher-melting-point polymer. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be an enabling process to cost effectively produce self-reinforced composites from recycled, immiscible Polyprophelene(PP)/nylon. For the carpet recycling market alone, this approach will reduce more than 5 billion pounds per year of carpet waste. By converting the waste stream into value-added products with improved mechanical properties the carpet waste will never reach our landfills. This process eliminates complicated sorting and separation steps, uses less energy for production, and reduces crude oil consumption needed for virgin polymers. For transportation applications, the self-reinforced composites' excellent strength to weight ratio can help produce lighter component parts, enhancing fuel efficiency. The new reinforced materials can be further processed by molding/forming processes to create 3-D parts with enhanced mechanical properties. This technology shows that recycled polymer blends prepared in an appropriate way can deliver superior value-added performance over virgin polymers.

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）二期项目旨在开发一种将不混溶聚合物（IP）废物回收为增值产品的新方法并将其商业化。在这种新方法中，IP废物被转化为具有相对较低熔点聚合物表面和相对较高熔点聚合物芯的高定向细丝。然后通过熔化和融合表面聚合物将这些高强度双组分纤维加工成所需的复合组分；由于在加工过程中只熔化表面聚合物，因此最终产品由高熔点聚合物的高强度芯纤维增强。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是一个经济有效地从回收的不混相聚丙烯(PP)/尼龙中生产自增强复合材料的过程。仅就地毯回收市场而言，这种方法每年将减少超过50亿磅的地毯废物。通过将废物流转化为具有更高机械性能的增值产品，地毯废物将永远不会进入我们的堆填区。该工艺消除了复杂的分选和分离步骤，使用更少的能源生产，并减少了原始聚合物所需的原油消耗。对于运输应用，自增强复合材料的优异强度重量比可以帮助生产更轻的部件，提高燃油效率。新的增强材料可以通过成型/成型工艺进一步加工，以创建具有增强机械性能的3d部件。这项技术表明，以适当的方式制备的再生聚合物共混物可以提供比原始聚合物更好的增值性能。