Soft Matter and Formulation for Industrial Innovation

我们生活在一个抛弃型社会，我们制造、使用和处置对我们的环境和健康造成有害影响，例如海洋和食物链中的塑料污染物。这是因为许多商业流程的工业化，大大降低了消费者的产品成本。这些较低的价格并不反映其制造或处置对环境造成的真实的成本。超过40%的塑料包装被丢弃在垃圾填埋场，近三分之一被非法倾倒。需要一种新的模式，即生物循环经济，废物再利用以产生产品和能源。该项目将把从目前没有使用的农业废物中获得的材料转化为可堆肥的塑料包装，因此具有真实的潜在的重大影响。博士学位的第一部分是量化和了解由二村番茄废叶生产的薄膜的性质，以及向这些薄膜添加涂层（由橙子皮形成）的效果。对于每种薄膜，将测量以下内容：拉伸模量;失效应变;拉伸强度;剥离试验热封性;动态机械热分析（分子流动性）;热重分析;阻隔性能（CO2，O2，N2，H2O）;透明度（胶片质量）; X射线（结晶度）;傅里叶变换红外/拉曼光谱（取向/组成）;快速场循环核磁共振（分子迁移率）;和扫描电子显微镜/光学显微镜（涂层的表面性质/均匀性）。除了研究涂层纤维素膜，涂层本身也将被研究。这将通过将涂层浇铸到玻璃板上来实现，以创建仅由涂层制成的膜，然后可以随后进行测试。目的是确定薄膜的微观性能与机械/光学/阻隔性能之间的关系。植物聚合物之间的相互作用本身就很有趣，通过这项工作，我们可以从自然界和自然界中学习。该项目将与世界上最大的纤维素薄膜生产商日本二村公司合作。您将有机会参观他们在英国的一个生产基地，并与他们的科学家团队一起工作。https://www.futamuragroup.com/en/divisions/cellulose-films

We live in a throw-away society in which we make, use, and dispose with detrimental effects to our environment and health, such as plastic contaminants in oceans and food chains. This has come about because of the industrialisation of many commercial processes, dramatically reducing the cost of products for consumers. These lower prices do not reflect the real cost to the environment of either their manufacture or their disposal. Over 40% of plastic packaging is discarded in landfills with almost one third being dumped illegally. A new paradigm is needed, a bio-circular economy with waste reuse to generate products and energy. This project will turn materials obtained from agricultural waste with no current usage, into compostable plastic packaging and so has the real potential for significant impact. The first part of the PhD is to quantify and understand the properties of the films produced from tomato waste leaf by Futamura, and the effect of adding a coating (formed from orange peel) to these films. For each film the following will be measured: tensile modulus; strain to failure; tensile strength; peel tests (heat sealability); dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (molecular mobility); thermogravimetric analysis; barrier properties (CO2, O2, N2, H2O); transparency (film quality); X-ray (crystallinity); Fourier transform infrared/Raman spectroscopy (orientation/composition); fast field cycling nuclear magnetic resonance (molecular mobility); and scanning electron microscopy/optical microscopy (surface properties/uniformity of coatings). In addition to studying the coated cellulose films, the coatings on their own will be studied. This will be achieved by casting the coatings on to glass plates, to create films made from the coatings alone, which can then be subsequently tested. The aim is to determine relationships between microscopic properties and mechanical/optical/barrier properties of the films. The interactions between plant polymers are interesting in and of themselves, and through this work we can learn both from nature and about nature. This project will work with the Japanese company Futamura, the biggest world-wide producer of cellulosic films. You will have the opportunity to visit one of their production sites in the UK and work alongside their team of scientists. https://www.futamuragroup.com/en/divisions/cellulose-films