A Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer for Assessing Thermomechanical Characteristics of Advanced Functional Materials

石油基塑料、复合材料和气凝胶(即泡沫)的使用在全球范围内有所增加，但这些产品具有重大的环境足迹。为了解决这个问题，在过去的几年里，人们研究了生物塑料、生物复合材料和生物气凝胶的生产。尽管取得了进展，但所生产的生物制品的性能(如热机械性能、水/气阻隔性和紫外线吸收)还不能满足行业的要求，因此存在开发性能更可接受的功能性生物塑料、生物复合材料和生物气凝胶的空间。另一方面，制浆工业的副产品木质素可以在加拿大进行商业规模的生产。尽管木质素具有巨大的潜力，但它还没有被用于高价值的材料生产。在申请者的研究小组中，已经开发了几个研究项目来评估生物材料世代中的木质素。这些项目包括1)用于食品包装的木质素衍生塑料的生产，2)木质素纳米和微米颗粒复合材料的创造，以及3)用于食品包装和绝缘应用的木质素气凝胶的开发。为了实现所述项目的目标，17名研究生和博士后S正在研究1)木质素的化学修饰以诱导功能化的木质素衍生物，2)在塑料、复合材料和气凝胶配方中加入木质素衍生物，3)对诱导产品的物理化学、表面和结构性质和性能进行评估。尽管这类产品的热机械性能至关重要，但莱克黑德大学或桑德贝大学没有热机械分析仪来评估所创造的产品的热机械性能。因此，已开发的项目的研究目标无法实现，研究生/研究人员将无法获得关于生物材料开发和表征的完整培训。动态热机械分析仪是一种用于评估塑料和聚合物材料的热机械行为的分析仪器。它能够确定聚合物材料的玻璃化转变和熔点，以及塑料、复合材料和气凝胶的机械性能，如弹性系数、阻尼、蠕变和应力松弛。在该仪器的帮助下，木质素基塑料、复合材料和气凝胶的热机械性能有望被测定，并与诱导生物材料的其他性能相关。此外，木质素衍生生物材料的使用将显著减少传统油基聚合物材料的使用，从而有助于减少它们的环境足迹。创造高附加值的木质素材料也将有助于制浆行业的整体财务利润，制浆行业是加拿大GDP的主要贡献者之一。

The use of petroleum-based plastics, composites, and aerogels (i.e., foams) has been increased globally, but these products have significant environmental footprints. To tackle this issue, the production of bioplastics, biocomposites, and bioaerogels has been studied in the past few years. Despite the progress, the properties (e.g., thermomechanical, water/gas barrier, and UV absorption) of the produced bioproducts do not meet the requirement of the industry, and hence there exists room for generating functional bioplastics, biocomposites, and bioaerogels with more acceptable properties. On the other hand, lignin, the byproduct of the pulping industry, can be produced at commercial scales in Canada. Despite its tremendous potential, lignin has not been utilized in high-value material productions. In applicant's research group, several research programs have been developed to valorize lignin in biomaterial generations. These programs include 1) the production of lignin-derived plastics for food wrapping applications, 2) the creation of lignin nano- and micro- particle-based composites, and 3) the development of lignin-based aerogels for food packaging and insulation applications. To meet the objectives of the stated programs, 17 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows (PDF)s are researching 1) the chemical modification of lignin to induce functionalized lignin derivatives, 2) the incorporation of lignin derivatives in plastic, composite, and aerogel formulas and 3) the assessment of physicochemical, surface, and structural properties and performance of the induced products. Despite the critical importance of the thermomechanical performance of such products, a thermomechanical analyzer is not available at Lakehead University, or in Thunder Bay, to assess the thermomechanical performance of the created products. Therefore, the research objectives of the developed programs cannot be met, and the graduate students/researchers will not have complete training on biomaterial development and characterization. A dynamic thermomechanical analyzer is an analytical instrument used for assessing the thermomechanical behavior of plastics and polymeric materials. It is capable of determining glass transition and melting points of polymeric materials, and mechanical properties, such as modulus, damping, creep, and stress relaxation, of plastics, composites, and aerogels. It is expected that, with the help of this instrument, the thermomechanical properties of lignin-based plastics, composites, and aerogels be determined and correlated with other properties of the induced biomaterials. Furthermore, the use of lignin-derived biomaterials will remarkably reduce the use of traditional oil-based polymeric materials and thus contribute to reducing their environmental footprints. The creation of value-added lignin-based materials will also help the overall financial profits of the pulping industry, which is one of the major contributors to GDP in Canada.