Synthesis and characterization of electrically conductive polyolefin nanocomposites

聚烯烃是一种商品塑料，由于其成本低、可回收、重量轻、易于加工、良好的热性能和机械性能而被广泛使用。聚烯烃纳米复合材料结合了优良的工程性能和良好的导电性、重量轻和易于制造等特点，具有重要的科学和技术意义。聚烯烃在聚合物技术中普遍存在，但基于这些材料的导电纳米复合材料仍处于起步阶段，主要原因是无法有效地分散导电纳米颗粒，以及聚合物与填料之间的界面粘附性差。 拟议的5年研究计划旨在开发熔融复合导电聚烯烃复合材料，其中包含分散的导电多壁碳纳米管(MWCNT)，从而导致比目前最先进的水平更好和更均匀的电气和机械性能。这一目标将通过应用新的基质和填充物功能化策略来实现。将研究在施加电场和剪切的情况下，通过使多壁碳纳米管沿优选方向排列来创建一维导电结构。这项研究将导致这些导电复合材料的高附加值应用，如形状记忆材料(SMP)、导电涂料和适用于静电涂装的热塑性聚烯烃(TPO)和硫化橡胶(TPV)配方。 NSERC要求提供资金，资助四名研究生进行这项研究，并支付相关研究费用。这项研究的结果预计将使加拿大制造商受益，为他们提供创新的材料和工艺，从商品聚合物中生产高附加值产品。

Polyolefins are commodity plastics, which are widespread because of their low cost, recyclability, lightweight, ease of processing, good thermal and mechanical properties. Polyolefin nanocomposite materials, which combine superior engineering properties with desirable traits such as conductivity, light weight and ease of manufacturing are of major scientific and technological importance. Polyolefins are ubiquitous in polymer technology, yet conductive nanocomposites based on these materials are still in their infancy, mainly because of the inability to efficiently disperse conductive nanoparticles, and the poor interfacial adhesion between polymers and fillers. The proposed 5 year research program aims to develop melt compounded electroconductive polyolefin composites, containing well dispersed conducting multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), thus leading to improved and more uniform electrical and mechanical properties than the current state-of-the art. This objective will be accomplished by applying novel matrix and filler functionalization strategies. The creation of 1-D conductive structures by aligning MWCNT along a preferred direction, upon application of electric fields and shear, will be investigated. This research will lead to high-value-added applications of these conductive composites, such as Shape Memory Materials (SMP), conductive coatings and thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) and vulcanizate (TPV) formulations suitable for electrostatic painting. Funding is requested from NSERC to fund four graduate students who will conduct this research and to cover the related research expenses. The outcome of this research is expected to benefit Canadian manufacturers by providing them with innovative materials and processes to produce high-value-added products from commodity polymers.