In-Situ Cellulose Nanocrystals/Polyolefins Nanocomposites (CNCs/PO)

在我们之前的NSERC Engage赠款中，我们开发了一种方法来制造聚乙烯和 结晶型纳米纤维素。使用这种方法，我们可以制备出均匀的复合材料，其中纳米纤维素 分散在聚乙烯基质中。我们的动机是制作这种复合材料，因为我们想 将结晶纳米纤维素的优异性能与聚乙烯的多功能性结合在一起。水晶 纳米纤维素是加拿大一种可再生和可持续发展的产品，具有优异的性能，而聚乙烯是 当今最重要的商品塑料。尽管很难制作这种复合材料，因为 纳米纤维素是亲水的，而聚乙烯是疏水的，我们对纳米纤维素进行了改性， 允许它与乙烯部分聚合，与聚乙烯形成杂化相，这有助于 使这两种不同的材料相容。 在这个Engage Plus应用中，我们希望优化我们的方法来生产微晶石 纳米纤维素/聚乙烯复合材料。我们计划用不同的纳米纤维素制作这些复合材料 使用不同性质的聚乙烯进行负载。我们将测试材料的机械性能和阻隔性能 这些复合材料以确定复合材料的组成如何与其性能相关联。这将是 允许研究团队设计具有适合不同应用的性能的新型复合材料。 我们相信，这种Engage Plus应用可以为工业用新型聚乙烯打开市场 包装应用将为我们的工业合作伙伴和加拿大带来重要的经济效益。

In our previous NSERC Engage grant we developed a method to make a composite of polyethylene and crystalline nanocellulose. Using this method, we could make a uniform composite wherein the nanocellulose was dispersed in the polyethylene matrix. We were motivated to make this composite because we wanted to combine the excellent properties of crystalline nanocellulose with the versatility of polyethylene. Crystalline nanocellulose is a renewable and sustainable Canadian product with outstanding properties, and polyethylene is the most important commodity plastic today. Even though it is difficult to make this composite because nanocellulose is hydrophilic and polyethylene is hydrophobic, we modified the nanocellulose in a way that allowed it to be partially polymerized with ethylene, forming a hybrid phase with polyethylene that helped compatibilize these two dissimilar materials. In this Engage Plus application, we want to optimize our method to produce crystallinte nanocellulose/polyethylene composites. We plan to make these composites with different nanocellulose loadings using polyethylenes with different properties. We will test the mechanical and barrier properties of these composites to determine how the composition of the composites correlate with their properties. This will permit the research team to design novel composites with properties that fit different applications. We are sure that this Engage Plus application can open the markets to new class of polyethylenes for industrial packaging applications that will bring important economical benefits to our industrial partner and to Canada.