I-Corps: Green Manufacturing of Recyclable High-Performance Composites

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是发展塑料复合材料，以取代金属作为结构材料的选择。这类材料因其高强度重量比而越来越多地用于飞机、汽车和风力涡轮机。然而，这些材料受到制造缓慢和昂贵的部件（如碳纤维）的限制，这些部件无法回收。这项提议的技术可以将复合材料的制造速度提高10倍，减少制造过程中的碳排放，加速风力涡轮机叶片和轻型、节油的飞机和汽车的生产。拟议的材料比现有的复合材料更轻，可回收，减少垃圾填埋，并允许制造商将昂贵的部件重新用于新部件。此外，这些材料可以取代环氧树脂作为高性能纤维增强复合材料的主要基体。I-Corps项目的基础是开发一类树脂配方，以提高双环戊二烯基热固性材料的可制造性和纤维结合性能。双环戊二烯基材料具有很高的抗化学物质和弹道冲击能力，但很难制造成复合材料。所提出的技术采用与双环戊二烯基树脂相容的开环复分解聚合添加剂，使最终材料具有极性功能和可回收性。所得到的材料与极性纤维表面表现出良好的相容性，并且易于快速，按需和传统制造技术制造。此外，所提出的材料可以在使用寿命结束时进行化学降解，从而允许回收有价值的纤维增强材料，并减少超大复合材料的垃圾填埋。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of plastic composite materials to supplant metal as the structural material of choice. This class of materials is increasingly used in aircraft, automobiles, and wind turbines for their high strength to weight ratio. However, these materials are limited by slow manufacturing and expensive components, such as carbon fiber, that cannot be recycled. The proposed technology may accelerate the manufacturing of composites by up to 10-fold, reducing the carbon emissions of manufacturing and accelerating production of wind turbine blades and lightweight, fuel-efficient aircraft and automobiles. The proposed materials are lighter than exiting composite materials and are recyclable, reducing landfill waste and allowing manufacturers to reuse expensive components for new parts. In addition, these materials may replace epoxies as the predominant matrix for high-performance fiber-reinforced composites.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a class of resin formulations that improves the manufacturability and fiber-binding properties of dicyclopentadiene-based thermosets. Dicyclopentadiene-based materials are highly resistant to chemicals and ballistic impact but are difficult to manufacture into composites. The proposed technology employs additives to ring-opening metathesis polymerization compatible with dicyclopentadiene-based resins that impart the final material with polar functionality and recyclability. The resulting materials show good compatibility with polar fiber surfaces and are easy to manufacture quickly, on demand, and with traditional manufacturing techniques. In addition, the proposed materials may be chemically degraded at end-of-life, allowing for recovery of valuable fiber reinforcements, and reducing the waste in landfills with oversized composites.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.