PREMISE: Ecologically and Economically Conscious Manufacturing of Polymer Composites - Coating Process Selection

产品实现和环境制造创新系统（PREMISE）探索性研究和教育活动将在多个空间尺度上对制造产品和工艺的技术，经济和生命周期环境方面进行综合系统分析，特别强调聚合物复合材料。 先进的聚合物复合材料广泛应用于各种具有上级物理/机械性能的轻质产品中。 尽管这些复合材料在使用阶段具有许多优势，但它们在整个生命周期中都会带来重大的环境挑战。 这些挑战包括不可再生资源的使用、危险化学品的排放、能源使用以及回收利用的困难。 许多创新的工艺，如模塑和涂层，似乎在经济上是可行的，对环境的影响较小。 然而，工业界往往不愿意采用其中许多技术，主要是由于缺乏全面的研究和工具来比较和评估各种复合材料制造工艺的技术、环境和经济方面。 在最近的NSF/DOE化学工业报告中确定了这种研究的必要性。 该提案汇集了来自不同工程部门和大学的具有互补技能的调查人员。 工业合作伙伴Omnova和本田将帮助获得这项工作所需的数据。 此外，通过该大学的先进聚合物和复合材料工程中心（CAPCE），拟议的工作将有机会接触27个工业成员和最先进的设施，同时为本科生和研究生提供机会。

The Product Realization and Environmental Manufacturing Innovative Systems (PREMISE) Exploratory research and education activities will initiate one of the first efforts for integrated systematic analysis of technical, economic and life cycle environmental aspects of manufactured products and processes at multiple spatial scales, with specific emphasis on polymer composites. Advanced polymeric composite materials are used widely in their enormous range of lightweight products with superior physical/mechanical properties. Although these composites provide many advantages in the use phase, they pose significant environmental challenges throughout their life cycle. These challenges include the use of non-renewable resources, emissions of hazardous chemicals, energy use, and difficulty in recycling. Many innovative processes for tasks such as, molding and coating seem to be economically viable with a smaller environmental impact. However, industry is often reluctant to adopt many of these techniques primarily due to a lack of comprehensive studies and tools to compare and evaluate the technical, environmental and economic aspects of various composite-manufacturing processes. The need for such research is identifies in the recent NSF/DOE report on chemical industry. This proposal brings together investigators from different engineering departments and universities with complementary skills. The industrial partners, Omnova and Honda, will help in obtaining the required data for this work. Furthermore, through the university's Center for Advanced Polymer and Composite Engineering (CAPCE) the proposed work will have access to 27 industrial members and state-of the art facilities while providing access to undergraduate and graduate students.