Reduction of Polymerization Stress by Addition of Monomer Filled Silica Nano-tubes

该赠款为实验和理论方法的开发提供资金，以确定从中空纳米管内部洗脱的单体在多大程度上减少聚合过程中产生的应力。 在聚合（聚合物的固化）过程中，液体单体变成固体，单体单元变得更密集，材料所占体积更小的过程。 当由于部件边界处的约束而阻止这种体积减小时，它会导致聚合物链施加应力。 这些应力可导致聚合材料脱粘或引起部件失效。 将进行实验和建模，以评估在何种程度上减少这种固化应力与添加纳米管。 将制造不同尺寸的纳米管，与不同体积分数的两种不同单体共混，并进行测试以确定聚合应力的降低程度。 还将进行实验以确定机械性能受使用单体填充的纳米管影响的程度。 将进行建模，以了解基本的物理学，以优化纳米管的尺寸和体积分数，以产生最大限度地减少聚合应力。 如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致聚合物基体和其他复合材料的完整性的改善，同时使其高速制造。 这项工作的主要目标是确定不同尺寸的纳米管以不同的体积添加到纯树脂中如何有助于减少聚合应力。 聚合应力的降低可以导致改善的牙齿填充物，以及玻璃纤维环氧树脂叠层的快速制造，以及其他应用。 还将开发计算工具，以模拟聚合应力的发展以及通过添加纳米管可以减少聚合应力的程度。

This grant provides funding for the development of experimental and theoretical approaches to determine the extent to which monomer eluting from the inside of hollow nano-tubes reduces stresses generated during polymerization. During polymerization (curing of polymer), a process during which a liquid monomer becomes a solid, the individual monomer units become more densely packed, and the material takes up less volume. When this decrease in volume is prevented because of constraints at the boundaries of the part, it causes the polymer chains to exert stresses. These stresses can cause the polymerized material to debond or induce failure of the part. Experiments and modeling will be performed to evaluate the extent to which this curing stress is reduced with the addition of nano-tubes. Nano-tubes of varying dimensions will be manufactured, blended with two different monomers in different volume fractions, and tests will be performed to determine the extent of reduction in polymerization stress. Experiments will also be performed to determine the extent to which mechanical properties are affected by the use of monomer filled nano-tubes. Modeling will be conducted to understand the underlying physics in order to optimize nano-tube dimensions and volume fractions to generate a maximum reduction in polymerization stress. If successful, the results of this research will lead to improvements in the integrity of polymer-matrix and other composites while enabling their high speed manufacture. The primary goal of this work is to determine how nano-tubes of different dimensions added in varying volumes to neat resin contributes towards a reduction in polymerization stress. A reduction in polymerization stress can lead to improved dental fillings, and rapid manufacture of glass-fiber epoxy layups, among other applications. Computational tools will also be developed to enable modeling the development of polymerization stress and the extent to which it can be reduced by the addition of nano-tubes.