Measurement and Modeling of Polymerization Kinetics for Product and Process Development

提高生产率和利用现有设备生产新的聚合物材料的需要，以及用具有成本效益和环境友好的版本取代工艺的能力，是聚合物行业的关键驱动因素。另一方面，学术研究往往集中在从生物可再生原料中合成新的聚合物，或者开发具有可控微结构的材料，用于高附加值产品的应用。无论是在学术界还是在产业界，指导聚合物合成工艺和产品开发所需的聚合动力学和聚合机理的基础知识往往都是缺乏的。我的研究填补了这一空白，方法是应用专门的动能脉冲激光技术来测量通过标准实验无法获得的关键速率系数，在为表示聚合体系而制定的详细机械模型中捕获这些知识，并在相关条件下进行有针对性的实验研究，以测试和验证模型。我将使用我的NSERC发现基金，将我的专业知识应用于有前途的新材料的开发，减少环境和生物医学应用的开发时间。

The need to increase production rates and produce new polymeric materials with existing equipment as well as the ability to replace processes with cost-effective and environmentally-friendly versions are key drivers in the polymers industry. On the other hand, academic research is often focused on the synthesis of new polymers from bio-renewable feedstock, or the development of materials with controlled microstructures for high value product applications. The fundamental knowledge of polymerization kinetics and mechanisms required to guide polymer synthesis conditions for both process and product development efforts is often lacking in both academia and industry. My research fills this gap by applying specialized kinetic pulsed-laser techniques to measure key rate coefficients not accessible through standard experimentation, capturing that knowledge in detailed mechanistic models formulated to represent polymerizing systems, and undertaking targeted experimental studies at relevant conditions to test and validate the models. I will use my NSERC Discovery funding to apply my expertise to the development of promising new materials, reducing the development time for environmental and biomedical applications.