SBIR Phase II: High Performance Structural Composites with Cellulosic Nanoparticles

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在将纤维素纳米颗粒（CN）增强的高强度热塑性复合材料商业化，以替代用于汽车结构部件的较重玻璃#8208;增强复合材料。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创造可持续的，高#8208;性能纳米复合材料。每个组件的预期重量节省在13%到20%之间。企业平均燃油经济性（CAFE）法规要求显著提高车辆的燃油经济性，这导致汽车制造商寻求创新方法来减轻车辆重量。研究表明，每减轻10%的重量，车辆的燃油消耗就减少7%。目标应用是用汽车零部件的CNC取代聚合物复合材料中的重玻璃增强材料，从而提供更轻重量的车辆，同时提高燃油效率。 关于‐对氯化萘材料的研究已大幅降低了成本（预计还会进一步降低），使氯化萘成为一种越来越有吸引力的功能性天然纳米填料，其加工将为制造业和技术部门提供就业机会。 将氯化萘成功应用于复合材料不仅可以减轻车辆重量和减少对环境的影响，还可以将废物流转化为增值材料，从而减少这些行业产生的废物量。 在SBIR第一阶段期间，该公司表明，用纤维素纳米颗粒增强的较轻的热塑性复合材料可以满足具有更高载荷的玻璃增强复合材料的拉伸强度值，从而节省部件重量。 第二阶段的赠款将使该公司能够扩大为汽车行业生产这些更轻，更可持续的复合材料所需的制造工艺。此外，该公司还将提高这些材料的性能，以达到与更高#8208;负载玻璃#8208;增强部件的性能相当，并有可能与碳纤维复合材料和金属等超高性能材料竞争。这项技术将使用高效和经济的制造工艺生产，使其成为汽车零部件制造商技术的真正下降。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to commercialize high-strength thermoplastic composites reinforced with cellulosic nanoparticles (CNs) as a replacement for heavier glass‐reinforced composite materials for structural automotive components. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to create sustainable, high‐performance nanocomposites. Expected weight savings is between 13 and 20% per component. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations require significant increases in fuel economy for vehicles, which has led carmakers to look for innovative ways to shed vehicle weight. It has been shown that for every 10% in weight savings, vehicle fuel consumption is reduced by 7%. The target application is to replace heavy glass reinforcement in polymeric composites with CNCs for car parts, providing lighter weight vehicles with increased fuel efficiency. On‐going research into CN materials has resulted in significant reductions in cost (with more reductions expected), making CNs an increasingly attractive functional natural nanofiller, the processing of which will provide jobs in both the manufacturing and the technology sector. Successful implementation of CNs into composites could not only lighten vehicles and reduce environmental impact, but also transform a waste stream into value-added materials, reducing the amount of waste produced by these industries. During the SBIR Phase I period, the company showed that lighter thermoplastic composites reinforced with cellulosic nanoparticles could meet the tensile strength values of glass-reinforced composites with much higher loadings, thereby saving part weight. The Phase II grant will allow the company to scale up the manufacturing processes necessary to produce these lighter, more sustainable composites for the automotive industry. Furthermore, the company will improve performance of these materials in order to attain performance parity with higher‐loaded glass‐reinforced parts and potentially to compete with ultra‐high performance materials such as carbon fiber composites and metals. This technology will be produced using efficient and economical manufacturing processes, allowing this to become a true drop‐in technology for automotive part-makers.