SGER/GOALI: Industry Presence on Campus: Cross-linking of Collagen Binders for Foundry Cores to Reduce VOC Emissions

该奖项的目标是开发一种可用于铸造芯砂的胶原基粘结剂。型芯在铸铁产品中产生空腔；型芯由硅砂和型芯粘结剂组成。其目的是取代使用酚醛氨基甲酸酯或呋喃/甲苯的石油基粘结剂。胶原蛋白提供了一种从美国食品加工来源创建可持续粘合剂的方法，否则这些粘合剂大多被丢弃。与传统的石油基粘合剂相比，胶原蛋白粘合剂将向空气中释放约20%-30%的挥发性有机化合物。这里的工作将集中在识别一种有利的交联剂，该交联剂将导致一条胶原链与相邻的链化学结合。这将增加粘结剂的强度，并使其在浸入水中时不太容易软化，如应用岩芯清洗时。初步结果表明，当使用1%的胶原基粘合剂时，交联剂将产生抗拉强度为每平方英寸300-400磅的粘合剂。这项变革性的研究旨在为铸造厂提供一种在提供高质量铸铁件的同时减少污染的方法。这将有助于铸造厂成为当地社区的好邻居，同时保持美国重要的制造业工作岗位。这项研究将为胶原蛋白在包括医药、环境吸附剂和电子产品在内的广泛新应用中的应用开辟道路。这项研究和开发将聘用一位在铸造行业工作过的博士生。在这个角色中，这名学生通过NSF资助的其他项目设计了一种减少铸造砂子浪费的方法。作为一项成果，成果将通过参考期刊论文和会议报告广泛传播。此外，随后的目标是与铸造合作伙伴在示范规模或全面规模上测试这些胶原基粘合剂。该项目由土木、机械和制造创新部门的材料加工和制造计划以及工业创新和伙伴关系部门的学术联系与工业计划赠款机会共同资助。

The objective of this award is to develop a collagen-based binder that can be used in foundry core sands. Cores create the hollow cavities within cast iron products; and the cores are comprised of silica sand plus a core binder. The aim is to replace petroleum-based binders that use phenolic urethane or furan / toluene. The collagen offers a means of creating a sustainable binder from a US food processing source that is otherwise mostly discarded. The collagen binder will release about 20-30% as much volatile organic compounds into the air, when compared to the conventional petroleum-based binders. The work herein will focus on discerning a favorable cross-linker that will cause one collagen strand to chemically bind to neighboring strands. This will increase the strength of the binder, and render it less susceptible to softening when immersed in water, as when applying a core wash. Preliminary results show that a cross-linker will yield a binder that hosts a tensile strength of 300-400 pounds per square inch, when 1% collagen-based binder is used. This transformative research aims to provide a means for foundries to diminish pollution while delivering high-quality iron castings. This will help the foundries be good neighbors in the local communities, while maintaining important manufacturing jobs in America. The research will open the way for collagen to be used in a broad range of new applications that include medicine, environmental sorbents, and electronics. This research and development will engage a Ph.D. candidate who has worked in the foundry industry. In this role, this student devised a means to cut foundry sand waste, via other NSF-funded projects. As a deliverable, the results will be widely disseminated via refereed journal papers and conference presentations. Also, with foundry partners, the subsequent aim is to test these collagen-based binders at the demonstration-scale or full-scale.This project is jointly funded by the Materials Processing & Manufacturing Program, of the Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation Division and by the Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry Program of the Industrial Innovation and Partnerships Division.