PFI:AIR - RA: Novel Halogen-free Replacement for Halobutyl Rubber

这个PFI:AIR研究联盟项目的重点是翻译和转让Allomatrix技术，该技术源自美国国家科学基金会轮胎研究中心（CenTiRe）和I/UCRC。该技术具有以下具有市场价值的特点：Allomatrix系列聚合物使用来自可再生资源的原材料，是卤化丁基橡胶的潜在替代品，卤化丁基橡胶用于制造汽车轮胎的气体阻隔内胆和药品塞。它也有可能被用作橡胶生物材料，可以加工成塑料并可以回收，具有比硅橡胶更好的性能组合。这些特点提供了以下优势：商用卤化丁基橡胶的性能，不存在有害的卤素，并且具有更小碳足迹的改进的成本效益制造工艺。Allomatrix技术非常重要，因为它使用来自可再生资源的原材料，有望减少当前丁基和卤代丁基制造工艺（60万吨/年）的碳足迹，可能导致改进的药物塞，并提供改进的橡胶生物材料，以挽救生命。如果成功，该项目有可能将高附加值制造业带回美国，为STEM学科创造就业机会。将建立的创新生态系统包括霍尼韦尔（Honeywell）、派克汉尼汾（Parker Hannifin）、小型生物技术公司普利司通/凡士通（Bridgestone/Firestone）和LG豪斯（LG Hausys）等合作伙伴。第三方投资者包括美国化学会橡胶部，他们创建了国际医疗高级弹性体中心，以及乳腺癌创新基金会，支持将乳房重建与癌症诊断和治疗相结合的研究。预计潜在的经济影响将是巨大的，在高附加值制造业创造新的就业机会，新的商业产品和在未来2-10年内为创造的就业机会受过良好培训的学生。学生（高中，本科和研究生）将通过将Allomatix技术转移到商业产品中获得创业和技术翻译经验。学生将受到激励和挑战，发展新颖的想法，并在工业合作伙伴面前捍卫他们的想法的可行性。该项目解决了从研究发现到商业应用的以下技术差距：以商业规模生产可与当前卤丁基橡胶竞争的无卤橡胶；减少制造过程中的碳足迹；用更便宜和更简单的方法生产热塑性生物相容性橡胶。PFI:AIR中提出的目标是基于allommatrix技术的。这种新的材料家族是所有目标的基础，因此第一步是扩大聚合并为产品开发和测试生产足够的材料。在目标II中，我们的目标是开发一种用于轮胎应用的优化硫固化系统，以及用于生物医学和其他应用的非硫固化系统。在目标III中，新的应用开发将基于Allomatrix系列聚合物的良好性能与各种合作伙伴一起实施。在目标IV中，研究了减少聚合体系碳足迹的潜力。这一目标是基于在cwhole项目的开发和优化阶段获得的聚合系统的洞察力。最后，目的V重点考察材料在生物医学应用中的可行性，如细胞毒性研究、生理条件下材料稳定性等方面的研究。

This PFI:AIR Research Alliance project focuses on the translation and transfer of the Allomatrix technology, derived from the NSF Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe), an I/UCRC. The technology has the following market-valued features: the Allomatrix family of polymers uses raw materials from renewable resources, and is a potential replacement of halobutyl rubber, which is used to make the gas-barrier inner liner of car tires and pharmaceutical stoppers. It also has the potential to be used as a rubbery biomaterial that can be processed as plastic and can be recycled, with better combination of properties than silicone rubber. These features provide the following advantages: the performance of commercial halobutyl rubber without the presence of harmful halogens, and an improved cost-effective manufacturing process with a smaller carbon footprint. The Allomatrix technology is important because it uses raw materials from renewable resources, is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of current butyl and halobutyl manufacturing processes (600,000 tons/year), may lead to improved pharmaceutical stoppers and provide improved rubbery biomaterials for saving lives. If successful, this project has the potential to bring back high value-added manufacturing to the USA, creating jobs in the STEM disciplines. The innovative ecosystem that will be created includes partners such as Honeywell, Parker Hannifin, Bridgestone/Firestone, a small biotech company (Innovia), and LG Hausys. Third party investors include the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society by creating the International Center of Advanced Elastomers for Healthcare, and the Breast Cancer Innovation Foundation supporting the research if integrating breast reconstruction with cancer diagnosis and treatment. The potential economic impact is expected to be significant, creating new jobs in high value added manufacturing, new commercial products and students well-trained for the created jobs in the next 2-10 years Students (high-school, undergraduate and graduate) will gain entrepreneurial and technology translation experience through the transfer of the Allomatix technology into commercial products. Students will be motivated and challenged to develop novel ideas, and to defend the feasibility of their ideas in front of industrial partners. This project addresses the following technology gap(s) as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application: to produce halogen-free rubber on a commercial scale that can compete with current halobutyl rubber; reduce the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process; produce thermoplastic biocompatible rubber with a much cheaper and simpler process. The proposed objectives in the PFI:AIR are based on the Allomatrix technology. This new family of materials is the basis for all objectives, thus the first step is to scale up the polymerization and to produce sufficient material for product development and testing. In objective II we aim to develop an optimized sulfur curing system for tire applications, and non-sulfur curing systems for biomedical and other applications. In objective III new application development will be implemented with various partners based on the favorable properties of Allomatrix family of polymers. In objective IV the potential of the reduction of the carbon footprint of the polymerization system is examined. This objective is based on the insight of the polymerization system that was acquired during the development and optimization stages of the CenTiRe project. Lastly, objective V focuses on the examination of the feasibility of the material to be used in biomedical applications, such as investigation of cytotoxicity, material stability under physiological conditions and other aspects.