I-Corps: Green Manufacturing of Recyclable High-Performance Composites

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of plastic composite materials to supplant metal as the structural material of choice. This class of materials is increasingly used in aircraft, automobiles, and wind turbines for their high strength to weight ratio. However, these materials are limited by slow manufacturing and expensive components, such as carbon fiber, that cannot be recycled. The proposed technology may accelerate the manufacturing of composites by up to 10-fold, reducing the carbon emissions of manufacturing and accelerating production of wind turbine blades and lightweight, fuel-efficient aircraft and automobiles. The proposed materials are lighter than exiting composite materials and are recyclable, reducing landfill waste and allowing manufacturers to reuse expensive components for new parts. In addition, these materials may replace epoxies as the predominant matrix for high-performance fiber-reinforced composites.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a class of resin formulations that improves the manufacturability and fiber-binding properties of dicyclopentadiene-based thermosets. Dicyclopentadiene-based materials are highly resistant to chemicals and ballistic impact but are difficult to manufacture into composites. The proposed technology employs additives to ring-opening metathesis polymerization compatible with dicyclopentadiene-based resins that impart the final material with polar functionality and recyclability. The resulting materials show good compatibility with polar fiber surfaces and are easy to manufacture quickly, on demand, and with traditional manufacturing techniques. In addition, the proposed materials may be chemically degraded at end-of-life, allowing for recovery of valuable fiber reinforcements, and reducing the waste in landfills with oversized composites.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.