Morphology development of physical polymer mixtures in sintering based processing technologies

聚合物烧结技术用于制造尺寸从米到微米的部件，具有简单或复杂的结构，基于粉末的熔融聚结。旋转成型是该领域中较为成熟的技术，其中选择性激光烧结3D打印仍在兴起。 这两种方法形成的产品通常是其他聚合物加工方法难以或不可能形成的。然而，两者都没有剪切应力，这对这些技术选择的材料造成了限制，这反过来又使它们无法进入依赖更先进性能的市场。 北美是全球滚塑制造商最集中的地区，3D打印方法被认为是加拿大高科技经济的组成部分，这对我们的制造业具有重要的战略意义。 这对加拿大是有益的，我们提高了他们的能力，以完成在市场领域需要更先进的性能。 为了拓宽性能以满足新应用的需要，聚合物的混合物通常被组合以形成复杂的相形态。 两种或多种聚合物的稳定共混物形态通常在剪切应力和拉伸应力的存在下产生。 在没有剪切应力的情况下，旋转成型和选择性激光烧结（SLS）的选择仅是使用预复合材料，这增加了相当大的成本，或者考虑一种不太了解的替代方案，其中聚合物的物理混合物被烧结以形成共混物。 该提案将通过烧结物理混合物来提高行业对这种较便宜的替代品的理解，并将其研究结果与预复合材料进行比较。研究的目的是确定方法，从而通过控制组成，粘度比，树脂相容性，结晶度和颗粒堆积密度产生理想的共混物形态。其目的是提供一个统计模型，工业赞助商和其他人可以使用该模型来预测最终性能，因为它们与形成的形态有关。

Polymer sintering technologies are used to manufacture parts of dimensions ranging from metres to microns, with simple or complex structures, based on the melt coalescence of powders. Rotational molding is the more mature technology in this area where 3D printing by selective laser sintering is still emerging. Both methods form products that are often difficult or impossible by other polymer processing approaches. However, the absence of shear stresses in both has created limitations on the materials selected with these technologies, which has in turn kept them out of markets reliant on more advanced properties. North America has the largest concentration of rotational molding manufacturers globally and 3D printing methods are considered integral to Canada's high technology economy, making both strategically important to our manufacturing sector. It is beneficial to Canada that we advance their capabilities to complete in market sectors where more advanced properties are demanded.** Broadening the properties to satisfy the needs of new applications, mixtures of polymers are often combined to form complex phase morphologies. Stable blend morphologies of two or more polymers are commonly produced in the presence of shear and elongational stresses. With an absence of shear stresses, the options for rotational molding and selective laser sintering (SLS) are only to use pre-compounded materials, which add considerable costs, or to consider a poorly understood alternative where physical mixtures of polymers are sintered to form a blend. This proposal will increase the industry's understanding of this less expensive alternative by sintering a physical mixture and will compare its findings to pre-compounded materials. The goal of the studies is to identify approaches whereby desirable blend morphologies arise by controlling composition, viscosity ratio, resin compatibility, crystallinity and particle packing density. The intent is to deliver a statistical model which the industrial sponsor and others may use to predict final properties as they are related to the morphology formed.