GOALI: Manufacturing USA: Energy Efficient Processing of Thermosetting Polymers and Composites

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This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project will research a new method for the manufacture of plastics and fiber reinforced composite materials, which are critical elements in structures like aircraft, automobiles and wind turbine blades, where light weight and high strength are required. Current methods for manufacturing these materials are costly and energy intensive, due to the high temperatures and long times required for processing. Drawing inspiration from how living system develop, this multidisciplinary research project will result in new plastic materials that require only small initial energy input to rapidly trigger the entire manufacturing process and dramatically reduce environmental impact. This new, more efficient method has significant potential to improve U.S. economic competitiveness in the critical area of composites manufacturing. The energy efficient concepts under development also provide an ideal platform to motivate and educate the next generation of students, postdoctoral researchers, entrepreneurs, industry and the general public on the importance of sustainable manufacturing. A new manufacturing method for thermosetting polymers, coatings and composites will be developed based on an autocatalytic (self-propagating) polymerization reaction occurring in a system undergoing reaction and diffusion of its components. The system uses the exothermic release of energy to provide a positive feedback to the reaction. In turn, this stimulates further exothermic energy release and a self-propagating reaction front that rapidly moves through the material; a process called frontal polymerization. Once triggered, the reaction progresses with zero energy input. The self-sustained propagation of a reaction wave through the material gives rise to entirely new ways of rapidly manufacturing high performance polymers and composites, without the use of conventional autoclaves or ovens. The planned research will lead to scientific advances in the organic chemistry of self-propagating reactions, machine learning driven design and synthesis of new monomers for frontal polymerization, multiscale characterization and modeling of front instabilities, and control of frontal polymerization for manufacturing. The research objectives are designed to improve fundamental understanding of frontal polymerization and to apply this knowledge to the rapid out-of-autoclave production of thermosetting coatings, fiber-reinforced composites and 3D printed architecturally complex, reinforced polymers.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.