Reduction of Polymerization Stress by Addition of Monomer Filled Silica Nano-tubes

这项拨款为实验和理论方法的发展提供资金，以确定单体从中空纳米管内部洗脱可以减少聚合过程中产生的应力的程度。在聚合（聚合物固化）过程中，液体单体变成固体的过程，单个单体单元变得更密集，材料占用的体积更小。当由于零件边界的约束而阻止了体积的减少时，它会导致聚合物链施加应力。这些应力会导致聚合材料脱落或导致零件失效。将进行实验和建模，以评估添加纳米管后这种固化应力降低的程度。将制造不同尺寸的纳米管，以不同的体积分数与两种不同的单体混合，并进行测试以确定聚合应力降低的程度。还将进行实验，以确定使用单体填充纳米管对机械性能的影响程度。为了优化纳米管的尺寸和体积分数，以最大限度地降低聚合应力，将进行建模以了解潜在的物理特性。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致聚合物基质和其他复合材料的完整性的改善，同时使其能够高速制造。这项工作的主要目标是确定不同尺寸的纳米管以不同的体积添加到整齐的树脂中如何有助于减少聚合应力。聚合应力的降低可以改善牙齿填充物，快速制造玻璃纤维环氧树脂层，以及其他应用。还将开发计算工具，以模拟聚合应力的发展，以及通过添加纳米管可以减少聚合应力的程度。

This grant provides funding for the development of experimental and theoretical approaches to determine the extent to which monomer eluting from the inside of hollow nano-tubes reduces stresses generated during polymerization. During polymerization (curing of polymer), a process during which a liquid monomer becomes a solid, the individual monomer units become more densely packed, and the material takes up less volume. When this decrease in volume is prevented because of constraints at the boundaries of the part, it causes the polymer chains to exert stresses. These stresses can cause the polymerized material to debond or induce failure of the part. Experiments and modeling will be performed to evaluate the extent to which this curing stress is reduced with the addition of nano-tubes. Nano-tubes of varying dimensions will be manufactured, blended with two different monomers in different volume fractions, and tests will be performed to determine the extent of reduction in polymerization stress. Experiments will also be performed to determine the extent to which mechanical properties are affected by the use of monomer filled nano-tubes. Modeling will be conducted to understand the underlying physics in order to optimize nano-tube dimensions and volume fractions to generate a maximum reduction in polymerization stress. If successful, the results of this research will lead to improvements in the integrity of polymer-matrix and other composites while enabling their high speed manufacture. The primary goal of this work is to determine how nano-tubes of different dimensions added in varying volumes to neat resin contributes towards a reduction in polymerization stress. A reduction in polymerization stress can lead to improved dental fillings, and rapid manufacture of glass-fiber epoxy layups, among other applications. Computational tools will also be developed to enable modeling the development of polymerization stress and the extent to which it can be reduced by the addition of nano-tubes.