I-Corps: In situ nanofiller formation during polymer processing

I-Corps：聚合物加工过程中原位纳米填料形成

• 批准号: 1614989
• 负责人: Justin Barone
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614989&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; situ; nanofiller; formation; during

High performance plastics are made of expensive ingredients and in large quantities. Plastics companies, such as tire rubber and polymer compounders, have struggled to find a filler that provides the desired improved properties without great expense or prohibitive technological barriers. If an inexpensive, compatible filler could be found, high performance commodity plastics could have better properties and a lower, more consistent cost that is less dependent on volatile petroleum prices. Traditional fillers are dropped in "top down" and mixed requiring lots of energy, heat, or chemical aids. This project investigates the commercial opportunity for a filler that is assembled "bottom up" from within the mixture. The filler is based on previous research on engineered low-cost agricultural proteins. If the filler is commercially viable, high performance plastics will achieve improved properties and be produced at lower cost allowing a traditionally petroleum dependent industry to save money and become more sustainable.The goal of this project is to communicate and cooperate with the polymers market to determine the area of greatest need for this filler. The technology has been shown in lab scale as a proof-of-principle, and further development would benefit from guidance toward promising application areas. The project scope will be to first meet with tire rubber companies and large plastics compounders that currently use fillers. These global companies use complex recipes and through cooperation will provide direction for a technology demonstration. This project will experimentally articulate the commercialization potential of this technology. By receiving direct feedback from future business partners, a viable business model and value proposition can be articulated. A demand-driven course for commercial success will be planned by considering feedback on technology licensure, in-house development and manufacturing, or contract manufacturing.

高性能塑料由昂贵的成分和大量制成。塑料公司，如轮胎橡胶和聚合物混炼机，一直在努力寻找一种填料，提供所需的改进性能，而没有很大的费用或禁止的技术障碍。如果能找到一种便宜、相容的填料，高性能的商品塑料就能具有更好的性能和更低、更稳定的成本，而不那么依赖于石油价格的波动。传统的填料是“自上而下”的，需要大量的能量、热量或化学助剂来混合。该项目调查了从混合物中“自下而上”组装填料的商业机会。该填料是基于以前对工程低成本农业蛋白质的研究。如果这种填料在商业上可行，高性能塑料将获得更好的性能，并以更低的成本生产，从而使传统上依赖石油的行业节省资金，并变得更加可持续。该项目的目标是与聚合物市场进行沟通和合作，以确定最需要这种填料的领域。该技术已在实验室规模上作为原理验证，进一步的开发将受益于有前景的应用领域的指导。该项目的范围将首先与轮胎橡胶公司和目前使用填料的大型塑料混炼机会面。这些全球性公司使用复杂的配方，并通过合作为技术演示提供方向。该项目将通过实验阐明这项技术的商业化潜力。通过接收未来业务合作伙伴的直接反馈，可以阐明可行的业务模式和价值主张。将通过考虑技术许可、内部开发和制造或合同制造方面的反馈，规划一个以需求为导向的商业成功课程。