Design and Tailoring of Lightweight Polymer Blend Nanocomposites with Enhanced Properties

在今天的市场中，消费者要求更轻的重量和更小的电子设备，具有更好的功能和设计选项。到2022年，对轻质材料的需求预计将达到约2000亿美元，聚合物复合材料主导着全球轻质市场。2014年，聚合物纳米复合材料是一个价值50亿美元的行业，预计到2025年将增长到310亿美元，但人们对如何设计这些材料知之甚少。新型多相聚合物材料，如聚合物共混纳米复合材料(PBN)，是电子、汽车、军事、航空航天、包装、光伏、传感器、电池和燃料电池的理想候选材料。聚合物共混纳米复合材料是由两种或两种以上聚合物与纳米填料混合而成的杂化材料。通过精心选择组分、化学和制备来控制PBN的结构，我们可以获得具有增强性能和综合性能的新材料，而这是单一材料无法获得的。将PBN用于电荷存储、个人电子设备和军事伪装的电磁干扰屏蔽以及银河宇宙射线屏蔽(外层空间飞行器)等高级应用仍处于初级阶段。因此，为了充分利用这一市场趋势，对PBN配方和性能的研究是必要的。在这个项目中，我们的最终目标是创建属性-结构-处理-合成地图，该地图将用于设计和定制PBN。导电性、静电放电、电荷存储和EMI屏蔽将是Focus的主要性能。我们将合成各种具有特殊性质(如高导电性)的新型纳米材料，如碳纳米管、石墨烯和纳米金属线，以赋予PBN电性能。我们将发现性质与体系化学、流动特性、组成、物理性质和加工条件之间的关系。这里提出的研究将为高科技行业培养高素质的人才。我们将利用一个由工程师、科学家和技术人员组成的多学科团队来控制PBN设计和开发的方方面面。这项工作将对加拿大聚合物材料制造商以及汽车、航空航天和电子行业等不断面临寻找更低成本、更轻重量和更高性能材料的压力的新型材料的客户至关重要。我们的团队拥有显著的优势，因为我们在聚合物共混和纳米复合材料方面的知识广博，这是创建设计和定制PBN的方法所需的基础。我们可以跨越整个开发过程：合成无机纳米材料填料；使用我们定制的微型搅拌机进行加工；广泛的结构和材料性能表征。该计划将为多相聚合物材料的制造商和用户提供重要的指导。

In today's marketplace, consumers demand lighter weight and smaller electronic devices with improved functionality and design options. Demand for lightweight materials is expected to reach ca. $200 billion by 2022, and polymer composites dominate the global lightweight market. In 2014, polymer nanocomposite was a $5 billion dollar industry and is projected to grow to $31 billion in 2025, yet there is little understanding about how to design these materials. Novel multiphase polymer materials, such as polymer blend nanocomposites (PBNs), are ideal candidates for electronics, automotive, military, aerospace, packaging, photovoltaics, sensors, batteries, and fuel cells. Polymer blend nanocomposites are hybrid materials of two or more polymers mixed with nanofillers. By controlling PBN structure through careful selection of components, chemistry, and fabrication, we can obtain new materials with enhanced performance and combination of properties that cannot be obtained from a single material. Use of PBNs for advanced applications like charge storage, electromagnetic interference shielding for personal electronics and military camouflage, and galactic cosmic ray shielding (vehicles for outer space) are still in their infancy. Therefore, to take full advantage of this market trend, research into PBN formulation and performance is essential. In this program, our end goal is to create property-structure-processing-synthesis maps, which will be used to design and tailor PBNs. Electrical conductivity, static discharge, charge storage and EMI shielding will be the main properties of focus. We will synthesize a variety of novel nanomaterials with specific properties (e.g. high electrical conductivity) like carbon nanotubes, graphene and nano metal wires to impart electrical properties to PBNs. We will find relationships between properties and system chemistries, flow characteristics, composition, physical properties and processing conditions. Research proposed here will train highly qualified individuals for careers in high tech industries. We will take advantage of a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and technicians to control all aspects of the design and development of PBNs. This work will be critical for Canadian manufacturers of polymer materials and the customers of these novel materials such as automotive, aerospace and electronics industries that are under constant pressure to find lower cost, lighter weight, higher performance materials. Our group has a significant advantage due to the breadth of knowledge on polymer blends and nanocomposites, which is the foundation needed to create methods to design and tailor PBNs. We can span the entire development process: synthesize inorganic nanomaterial filler; perform processing using our custom-built miniature mixers; extensive structure and material property characterization. This program will provide critical guidance to manufacturers and users of multiphase polymer materials.