Structure-property-processing relationships of polyethylene nanocomposites

通过这个NSERC CRD项目，U博士。Sundararaj和他的研究团队，卡尔加里大学化学和石油工程系的聚合物加工小组将与NOVA Chemicals的产品科学家，工艺工程师，聚合物物理学家和分析化学家合作，设计和开发具有改进模量（刚度）的材料，用于注塑，旋转模塑和吹塑聚乙烯（PE）容器等应用。从这些过程中产生的许多产品需要高模量材料，这将通过允许制造商制造具有较低壁厚的部件从而使用较少的塑料来提供更多的可持续性。将纳米材料掺入聚乙烯中提供了实现这一目标的可行方法。该项目还将专注于提高其他关键性能，如强度，延展性和渗透性。这些新材料将为工业桶/散装容器、盖和封盖以及滚塑罐提供新的市场机会。 这个大学-工业CRD项目的主要成果将是在加工-结构-性能关系方面创建有关PE纳米复合材料的基础知识，以便NOVA Chemicals可以利用这些结果获得市场优势。我们将对加工过程进行基础和系统的研究，以了解形态发展的机制和由此产生的结构-性质关系。影响PE共混物结构、纳米填料取向和纳米填料分散的因素如聚合物共混物组成、可溶解性、粘度比、加工时间、添加顺序（例如，母料）、混合温度和剪切速率进行研究。本工作的目标是获得PE/粘土纳米复合材料具有较高的拉伸强度，模量和韧性，并具有较低的水分和氧气的渗透性。具体的系统将包括具有不同化学性质的不同类型的纳米填料（例如有机改性的纳米粘土）。

Through this NSERC CRD project, Dr. U. Sundararaj and his research team, the Polymer Processing Group in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at University of Calgary will work with product scientists, process engineers, polymer physicists and analytical chemists at NOVA Chemicals to design and develop materials with improved modulus (stiffness) for use in applications like injection molded, rotationally molded and blow-molded polyethylene (PE) containers. Many of the products generated from these processes require high modulus materials that will provide more sustainablility by allowing manufacturers to make parts with lower wall thicknesses and thereby use less plastic. Nanomaterials incorporated into polyethylene provide a viable method to achieve this. The project will also focus on improving other key properties such as strength, ductility, and permeability. These novel materials would provide new market opportunities for industrial drums/bulk containers (IBC's), caps and closures, and rotomolded tanks. The key outcome from this university-industry CRD project will be to create fundamental knowledge about PE nanocomposites in terms of processing-structure-properties relationships such that NOVA Chemicals can exploit these results for market advantage. We will perform a fundamental and systematic study of processing to understand the mechanisms of morphology development and resulting structure-property relationships. Factors that influence PE blend structure, nanofiller orientation and nanofiller dispersion like polymer blend composition, miscibility, viscosity ratio, processing time, order of addition (eg. masterbatching), mixing temperature and shear rate would be studied. The goal of this work is to obtain PE/clay nanocomposites with higher tensile strength, modulus, and toughness and with lower moisture and oxygen permeability. The specific systems will encompass different types of nanofillers with different chemistries (such as organically modified nanoclays).