Development of bio-composites made with nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project is in response to the call for proposals in the context of the NSERC (Canada) - ANR (France) joint initiative. On the Canadian side, the participating research groups are from the Center for Applied Research in Polymer and Composites (CREPEC-École Polytechnique de Montréal and University of Sherbrooke) and the Wood Research Center (CRB-Laval University). In France, the groups are from the Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des MATériaux de Bretagne (LIMATB - Université de Bretagne-Sud), the Centre de Mise en Forme des Matériaux (CEMEF - École des Mines de Paris), and the Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés Papetiers (LGP2 - Institut Polytechnique of Grenoble). The properties of thermoplastic polymers can be significantly improved by the incorporation of nanometric size particles, such as nanoclays, carbon nanotubes and cellulosic nanoparticles, and that at a very low loading of the nanometric fillers. The main objective of the present project is to develop a new family of biocomposites from renewable materials with equal or superior properties compared to traditional composites. Conventional injection and extrusion processes will be used and new mechanical models will be developed to facilitate their introduction in industrial applications. Two thermoplastic polymer matrices will be used: a biopolymer, polylactide, and a petroleum-based resin, polypropylene. Most efforts will be devoted to the development of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) polymer composites. The originality of the proposed approach is to combine bio-based elements, to use nanometric reinforcements and more importantly to investigate these ground-breaking materials from conception to pilot-scale testing.