Development of a rheologically-based dispersion quality index for cellulose nanocrystals in non-polar and thermoplastic media

开发基于流变学的纤维素纳米晶体在非极性和热塑性介质中的分散质量指数

• 批准号: 490786-2015
• 负责人: Heuzey, MarieClaude
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: École Polytechnique de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=618311
• 关键词: Development; rheologically; based; dispersion; quality

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) represent an abundant, renewable, sustainable, recyclable and biodegradable source of nanomaterials that can be used in the fabrication of polymer nanocomposites. However the industry is currently faced with a key issue: as synthesized, CNC is highly hydrophilic, hence it does not disperse well in non-polar solvents and thermoplastic polymer matrices. Without methods to characterize and quantify their level of dispersion, it is difficult to evaluate the success of different approaches for introducing and distributing CNC into non-polar matrices. A recent strategic NSERC project focusing on the development of rheological methods to characterize the properties of CNC-based polymer nanocomposites was completed in early 2015. It involved Carreau and Heuzey of École Polytechnique de Montréal (EPM) and Riedl of Université Laval (UL), in collaboration with Dr Wadood Hamad from FPInnovations (FPI). This ongoing collaboration leads to very interesting results on the potential of CNC in the fabrication of polymer nanocomposites, but has also served to identify key fundamental questions that remain unanswered. This proposal aims to take this research a step further, specifically by developing a rheologically-based "dispersion quality index" through an investigation of the effect of CNC surface modification approaches, building on the expertise of Tavares (EPM), van de Ven (McGill) and Riedl (UL) for surface treatment, and on Heuzey and Carreau's (EPM) extensive rheological background. Because rheological properties are very sensitive to small changes in microstructure, it is believed that rheometry could be efficient, low-cost techniques to characterize the state of dispersion of CNCs. The main goal of this project is therefore to develop correlations quantifying the extent of dispersion of CNCs into non-polar matrices by comparing rheological properties with actual microstructures observed by scanning and transmission electronic microscopy. This will position Canadian Universities as international leaders in new scientific and strategic fields, namely nanotechnology and biopolymers.

纤维素纳米晶体（CNC）代表了可用于制造聚合物纳米复合材料的丰富的、可再生的、可持续的、可回收的和可生物降解的纳米材料来源。然而，该行业目前面临着一个关键问题：CNC在合成时具有高度亲水性，因此它在非极性溶剂和热塑性聚合物基质中不能很好地分散。如果没有方法来表征和量化其分散水平，很难评估将CNC引入和分布到非极性基质中的不同方法的成功性。NSERC最近的一个战略项目专注于开发流变学方法来表征CNC基聚合物纳米复合材料的性能，该项目于2015年初完成。它涉及蒙特利尔理工学院（蒙特利尔）的Carreau和Heuzey以及拉瓦尔大学（UL）的里德尔，与来自FPI Innovations（FPI）的Wadood Hamad博士合作。这种持续的合作导致了CNC在聚合物纳米复合材料制造中的潜力的非常有趣的结果，但也有助于确定仍然没有答案的关键基本问题。该提案旨在进一步开展这项研究，特别是通过调查CNC表面改性方法的效果，开发基于流变学的“分散质量指数”，建立在塔瓦雷斯（美国），货车de Ven（麦吉尔）和里德尔（UL）的表面处理专业知识以及Heuzey和Carreau（美国）广泛的流变学背景之上。由于流变性能对微观结构的微小变化非常敏感，因此认为流变测定法可以是表征CNC分散状态的有效、低成本的技术。因此，该项目的主要目标是通过比较流变特性与扫描和透射电子显微镜观察到的实际微观结构，开发量化CNCs分散到非极性基质中的程度的相关性。这将使加拿大大学成为新的科学和战略领域的国际领导者，即纳米技术和生物聚合物。