EAGER: Do Nanofoams Have a Natural Vacuum Inside the Cells?

EAGER：纳米泡沫的细胞内有自然真空吗？

• 批准号: 1253072
• 负责人: Vipin Kumar
• 金额: $ 6.99万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1253072&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Do; Nanofoams; Natural; Vacuum

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) provides funding for conducting experiments to develop a process to create polymer foams with nanoscale cell size. It has been hypothesized that nanocellular foams (or nanofoams) may be able to achieve a natural vacuum inside cells, provided the cell size is smaller than the mean free path of gas/air molecules at standard atmospheric conditions. The proposed research will test this hypothesis by creating nanofoams that have cell diameters smaller than 70 nm, the mean-free-path for air molecules. A novel processing strategy to reduce cell size based on reduced polymer surface energy will be explored. The thermal conductivity of the nanofoams will be measured and compared to foams with microscale cells as well as solid polymer.If successful, this research could enable the production of foams with thermal insulation values as much as double that of microcellular polymer foams. Such foams could significantly impact the construction industry by improved insulation properties or the electronics industry by enabling further miniaturization through reduced material need.

这一早期概念探索性研究补助金(AGERGE)为进行实验提供资金，以开发一种创建纳米细胞尺寸的聚合物泡沫的过程。假设纳米泡沫(或纳米泡沫)能够在细胞内实现自然真空，前提是细胞尺寸小于标准大气条件下气体/空气分子的平均自由程。这项拟议的研究将通过创造细胞直径小于70 nm的纳米泡沫来检验这一假设，70 nm是空气分子的平均自由程。将探索一种基于降低的聚合物表面能来减小泡孔尺寸的新的处理策略。纳米泡沫塑料的导热系数将被测量，并与微孔泡沫塑料和固体聚合物泡沫塑料进行比较。如果研究成功，这项研究将使泡沫塑料的绝热值达到微孔聚合物泡沫塑料的两倍。这种泡沫塑料可以通过改善绝缘性能来显著影响建筑业，或者通过减少材料需求来实现进一步的小型化，从而对电子行业产生重大影响。