Processing of polymer nanocomposites

聚合物，因为它们的性能和易于加工成复杂的形状，是我们今天可以获得的最重要的材料之一，聚合物行业为英国经济做出了重大贡献(每年180亿英镑)。一个令人振奋的新材料家族是聚合物纳米复合材料(NCS)，其中纳米尺寸的粒子分散在聚合物中。NCS的好处主要来自少量添加颗粒(例如，重量为5%)可以获得的超大颗粒表面积。因此，它们显著改善了材料性能，显著提高了机械和气体阻隔性能。因此，这种材料的使用者会得到更有效的产品(或含有更少材料的产品，但效果相同)。众所周知，纳米粒子-聚合物界面/化学是决定粒子在纳米复合材料中分散程度的关键参数，界面性质对纳米复合材料的性能有重要影响。然而，近年来，很明显，纳米颗粒-聚合物混合物形成最终产品的加工路线是NC制造的一个同样重要的方面，这也是我们将在本提案中重点关注的领域。因此，拟议项目的主要目标是基本了解聚合物纳米复合材料的材料配方、加工和性能之间的相互作用，并将其应用于开发概念验证应用程序，为工业界和学术界提供通用的加工信息。这项工作将包括使用中试规模的聚合物加工设备进行统计设计的实验研究，以及在工业规模的设备上进行验证试验。要研究的参数包括挤出机的剪切和温度分布、螺杆设计、抗氧化剂等添加剂、挤压后变形的双向拉伸和冷却速度。我们将从结构、机械、热和阻隔性能方面对材料进行表征，以便将工艺与结构和结构与性能联系起来。我们将利用贝尔法斯特女王大学(QUB)和布拉德福德大学(UOB)现有的综合加工、表征和分析技能和设施，这两所大学过去和现在都曾在大型合作项目上成功合作，并在聚合物加工研究方面拥有良好的国内和国际记录。

Polymers, because of their properties and ease of processing into complex shapes are among the most important materials available to us today and the polymer industry makes a major contribution to the UK economy (18 billion per year). An exciting new family of materials are polymer nanocomposites (NCs), in which particles with nanoscale dimensions are dispersed in the polymer. The benefits of NCs derive primarily from the exceptionally large amounts of particle surface area that can be achieved for a small addition of particles (e.g. 5% by weight). Thus they offer dramatic improvement in material performance with significant increases in mechanical and gas barrier properties. The user of such a material therefore gets a more effective product (or one containing less material for the same effectiveness). It is well recognised that the nanoparticle-polymer interface/chemistry is a critical parameter in determining the degree of dispersion of particles in a nanocomposite and that the interfacial properties have a significant influence on nanocomposite performance. In recent times, however it has become apparent that the processing route by which the nanoparticle-polymer mixture is formed into a final product is an equally important aspect of NC manufacture and this is the area on which we will focus in this proposal.The principal aim of the proposed project is therefore to achieve a fundamental understanding of the interactions between material formulation, processing and properties of polymer nanocomposites and to apply this to the development of proof of concept applications which provide generic processing information for industry and academia alike. The work will include statistically designed experimental studies using pilot scale polymer processing equipment and validation trials on industrial scale equipment. Parameters to be studied include extruder shear and temperature profiles, screw design, additives such as anti-oxidant, post extrusion deformation such as biaxial extension and cooling rates. We will characterise the materials in terms of structure, mechanical, thermal and barrier performance in order to link process to structure and structure to performance.We will utilise the combined processing, characterisation and analytical skills and facilities existing in Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and the University of Bradford (UoB), partners who have worked together successfully on large collaborative projects, in the past and currently, and have an excellent national and international track record in polymer processing research.