Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Advanced Films and Smart Packaging Systems Project Summary

工程研究中心规划拨款竞赛是ERC项目的试点征集。规划补助金不需要作为ERC竞赛的一部分，但它旨在在团队之间建立能力，以规划聚合的、中心规模的工程研究。到2020年，全球塑料需求预计将达到3.35亿吨。很大一部分塑料——约占非纤维材料的42%——用于包装应用，其中许多以薄膜的形式使用，需求可能会进一步增加。虽然全球包装行业预计到2020年将产生至少1万亿美元的经济影响，但我们正在目睹包装领域的紧张局势。这些挑战为创造一个最合适、最及时的工程研究中心主题奠定了基础：一方面，人们对防伪检测和轻量化等材料性能的期望越来越高，另一方面，包装材料是全球塑料废物危机的主要来源。因此，迫切需要将聚合物材料的基础知识与创新思维结合起来的新方法。这种创新的心态将有多种技术和社会的欣赏，以及环境方面的考虑，将推动包装设计和利用的新发展。这是拟议中的ERC的大胆愿景，也是规划拨款的重点。2017年4月至2018年5月期间在CWRU举行的四个行业论坛（代表19家公司）确定了四个研究重点领域。考虑了特定部门（如食品和饮料、制药）的主题，但放弃了这些主题，转而考虑超越多个部门需要的广泛重点。研究的重点领域是1)安全与安全，2)表面与界面，3)选择性传输/屏障特性，以及4)可持续性。每一个都有丰富的机会获得基本的理解，并有可能产生重大的积极的社会影响。例子包括：(1)预防食品的微生物污染和在复杂的供应链中运输的药物化合物的认证是两个迫切需要创造性解决方案的问题；(2)触觉感知和可测量的表面特性（粗糙度、粘性、粘性）与人类情绪反应之间的联系；(3)采用新颖的加工方法，合理选择材料，显著降低水和氧的扩散率，提高包装膜的阻隔性能；(4)可持续材料，如生物塑料，注重高附加值，可以有力地推动采用。通过与多个行业合作伙伴和几所大学合作伙伴的互动，计划拨款将大大加快研究活动的步伐和影响。俄亥俄州立大学、密歇根州立大学、克利夫兰艺术学院在包装设计和食品创新方面具有优势，以补充和利用凯斯西研究大学深厚的聚合物专业知识。重要的是，多机构团队将共同教育下一代研究人员，他们将在未来几十年部署，以应对包装领域的许多令人兴奋的挑战和机遇。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.Global plastics demand is expected to reach 335 million tons by 2020. A significant fraction of plastics--about 42% of non-fiber materials--are used in packaging applications with many of these in the form of films, and demand is likely to increase further. While the global packaging industry is projected to have an economic impact of at least $1 Trillion by 2020, we are witnessing tensions in the packaging area. These challenges set the stage for creating a most appropriate and timely Engineering Research Center theme: the increasing materials performance expectations such as anti-counterfeiting detection and light-weighting on the one hand, and a global plastic waste crisis for which packaging materials are the major contributor on the other. Hence there is an immediate and urgent need for new approaches that melds deep fundamental knowledge of polymeric materials with an innovation mindset. This innovation mindset will have an appreciation of multiple technical and societal, and environmental considerations that will drive new developments in packaging design and utilization. This is the bold vision of a proposed ERC, and the focus of the planning grant. Four research focus areas have been identified with the benefit of four industry forums (nineteen companies represented) held at CWRU between April 2017 and May 2018. Sector-specific (e.g., food and beverage, pharma) themes were considered but discarded in favor of broad thrusts that transcend multiple sector needs. The research focus areas are 1) Security and Safety, 2) Surfaces and Interfaces, 3) Selective Transport/Barrier Properties, and 4) Sustainability. Each is rich with the opportunity for fundamental understanding coupled with the potential for significant positive societal impact. Examples include (1) the prevention of microbial contamination of foods and the authentication of pharmaceutical compounds that travel a complex supply chain are two pressing issues in need of creative solutions; (2) tactile sensing and the connection between measurable surface properties (roughness, tack, stiction) and human emotive responses; (3) novel processing approaches coupled with judicious choice of materials and significantly reduce diffusivity of water and oxygen for improved barrier properties of packaging films; and (4) sustainable materials such as bioplastics with attention to high value add that can strongly drive adoption. The planning grant will significantly accelerate the pace and impact of the research activities through interactions with multiple industry partners and with several university partners. The Ohio State University, Michigan State University, The Cleveland Institute of Art bring strengths in packaging design and food innovation to compliment and leverage the deep polymer expertise at Case Western Research University. Importantly, the multi-institutional team will collectively educate the next generation of researchers who will be deployed to address the many exciting challenges and opportunities in the packaging area over the coming decades.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.