SBIR Phase II: High performance biodegradable sandwich core structures

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是开发和示范一种新的轻质生物基塑料制造技术。由植物材料生产的塑料对环境的影响比石油基塑料小，但价格和性能问题限制了它们的采用。在第一阶段，Grow Plastics展示了生产轻质、低成本、热稳定的100%生物基包装产品的能力。在第二阶段，Grow Plastics将继续开发其产品，同时也将努力开发一条完整的生产线。这项技术的目标是用一种密度更低的塑料取代数十亿磅的石油基塑料，这种塑料只需要一半的材料，这种材料是由植物制成的。这个SBIR二期研究项目建议继续开发生物材料层状结构的新制造工艺。Grow Plastics已经展示了在使用新机器的新制造工艺中产生新颖，高性能的生物聚合物层状细胞结构的能力。第二阶段的挑战将是继续第一阶段的材料开发，同时将技术扩展到工业规模。材料科学和制造技术将包括聚合物共混、固态发泡和聚合物共混的热结晶。分析技术将包括拉伸测试、差示扫描量热法、热力学分析和最终产品性能评估。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be the development and demonstration of a new manufacturing technology for lightweight bio-based plastics. Plastic produced from plant materials can have lower environmental impact than petroleum-based plastics, but price and performance issues have limited their adoption. In Phase I, Grow Plastics demonstrated the ability to produce lightweight, low cost, thermally stable 100% bio-based packaging products. In Phase II, Grow Plastics will continue the development of its products while also working to develop a full-scale manufacturing line. The goal of the technology is to replace billions of pounds of petroleum-based plastic with a lower density plastic requiring half as much material, which is made from plants.This SBIR Phase II research project proposes to continue the development of a new manufacturing process for layered structures in biomaterials. Grow Plastics has demonstrated the ability to generate novel, high-performance layered cellular structures in biopolymers in a new manufacturing process using new machinery. The challenge in Phase II will be to continue the development in materials from Phase I while also scaling the technology to industrial scale. Materials science and manufacturing techniques will include polymer blending, solid state foaming, and thermal crystallization of polymer blends. Analysis techniques will include tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry, thermo mechanical analysis, and evaluation of final product properties.