PFI-TT: High-Volume Manufacturing of Next Generation Carbon Reinforced Pre-Impregnated Polymer Composites

该创新-技术转化合作伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是使下一代高性能碳纤维增强聚合物（CFRP）复合材料可用于广泛的商业领域，如体育用品，汽车和航空航天工业。传统的CFRP材料通常以层压形式使用，由于重量轻和高级碳纤维提供的上级强度，因此具有优异的工程性能。然而，与金属相比，聚合物基体继承的机械、电和热弱点在许多应用中大大限制了它们的潜力。与当前的CFRP和薄膜粘合剂产品相比，下一代CFRP材料在这些性能方面表现出多项显着改进，提供了更好的多功能性能，可以更好地适应应用。因此，一般的生活质量（例如，娱乐、交通、安全、舒适、能源效率和环境可持续性）将得到加强。这些新材料还可能有助于扩大美国太空探索和防御任务的范围。大规模生产开发和相关的工业合作将增加CFRP的使用量和市场规模，以取代其他金属部件，并实现新的应用和技术。该项目旨在开发新型纳米纤维z螺纹CFRP产品（预浸料和薄膜粘合剂）的卷对卷制造。 研究人员将启动商业化活动，以实现纳米材料在CFRP组件中的全部潜力。在这种新的复合材料中，碳纳米纤维在传统的碳纤维之间曲折前进。由此产生的联锁网络强烈地增强了材料，将机械，电气和热负荷分布在复合材料内部的各个方向。因此，Z螺纹CFRP比传统CFRP更坚固，更全面，具有可定制的多功能特性。纳米树脂薄膜粘合剂是Z螺纹CFRP预浸料的中间产品和前体，允许客户使用自己专有设计的任何织物创建自己的预浸料，或者简单地将两个物体粘合在一起，改善热量和电力传递。热流体的原则和电场诱导的取向动力学将在创新的制造过程中使用。与产品相关的物理特性将用于质量控制。通过与行业合作者的互动，该团队将了解每个市场的工程需求和生态系统，并帮助行业利用具有显著优势的下一代CFRP技术实现更多创新产品。该奖项反映了NSF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 broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to make next generation, high-performance carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites available to broad commercial segments such as the sporting goods, automotive, and aerospace industries. Conventional CFRP materials, usually used in laminate form, give excellent engineering performance thanks to low weight and the superior strength provided by advanced carbon fibers. However, mechanical, electrical, and thermal weaknesses inherited from the polymer matrix substantially limit their potential compared with metals in many applications. The next generation CFRP materials demonstrate multiple notable improvements in in those properties, giving significantly better multifunctional performance that can be better tailored to the applications, compared to current CFRP and film adhesive products. Hence, the general quality of living (e.g., recreation, transportation, safety, comfort, energy efficiency, and environmental-sustainability) will be enhanced. These new materials may also contribute to expanding the envelope of the nation’s space exploration and defense missions. The volume-manufacturing development and associated industrial collaboration will increase the usage and market size of CFRP in replacing additional metallic parts and enabling novel applications and technologies.The project seeks to develop roll-to-roll manufacturing of novel nanofibers z-threaded CFRP products (prepreg and film adhesive). The researchers will launch commercialization activities to realize the nanomaterial's full potential in CFRP components. In this new composite, carbon nanofibers zigzag thread between the conventional carbon fibers. The resulting interlocking network strongly reinforces the material, distributing the mechanical, electrical, and thermal loads in all directions inside the composite. As a result, z-threaded CFRP is stronger and more comprehensively capable with tailorable multifunctional properties than conventional CFRP. Nano-resin film adhesive, an intermediate product and precursor of the z-threaded CFRP prepreg, allows customers to create their own prepreg using any fabric of their own proprietary design, or simply to bond two objects together with improved heat and electricity transfer. Thermal-fluidic principles and electric-field induced nanofiber orientation dynamics will be utilized in the innovative manufacturing process. The physical characteristics associated with the products will be exploited for quality control. Interaction with industrial collaborators will allow the team to understand each market’s engineering needs and ecosystems and assist the industries to realize more innovative products using the significantly advantageous next generation CFRP technology.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.