Reinforcing effect of Cellulose Nanocrystals on Polyamide-6 polymeric nano-composite films and electrospun composite nano-fiber yarns

林产工业受到经济条件和市场的密切影响。因此，寻求创新产品和高附加值新材料的新市场对加拿大林业部门的未来至关重要。在这些产品中，纤维素纳米晶(CNC)和纤维纳米原纤维(CNF)因其潜在的商业利益而受到越来越多的关注。在加拿大，FP Innovation在支持探索CNC应用方面发挥了带头作用，以加强他们对林业部门的支持。碳纳米管是一种高度结晶的棒状颗粒，由于具有高强度、高刚性和相对较低的密度等特性，在纳米复合材料中作为增强剂非常有吸引力。加拿大是数控材料生产的全球领先者；因此，对数控材料的增强潜力有更深入的了解并利用这些知识开发新的纳米复合材料具有重要的战略意义。这将为这种天然丰富的材料在加拿大和世界各地的商业应用提供途径。为此，本建议旨在研究在世界上最常用的聚合物之一尼龙6中加入数控技术。这种聚合物用于生产纤维和工程材料，如聚合物薄膜；然而，将数控技术引入尼龙6中还没有很好的研究和文献记载。在这个项目中，研究人员将在聚合物薄膜和纤维中加入不同数量的CNC。这些发现将被用来为世界各地的工程师生成设计曲线，以促进在尼龙6应用中大规模使用数控技术。该项目得到了作为行业合作伙伴的FP Innovation的支持。此外，除了这项提议，艾兰西博士和他的合作者克兰斯顿博士(麦克马斯特)也在向艾伯塔省-安大略省创新计划(AoIP)申请额外资金。AoIP由Alberta Innovates Technology Futures、安大略省卓越中心、AB和ON政府以及NSERC组成。

Forest products industry is closely affected from the economic conditions and the markets. Consequently, new markets that seek innovative products and high value added novel materials are crucial for the future of forest sector in Canada. Among these products, cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) are attracting increasing attention due to the potential commercial interests from various industries. FP Innovation has taken a lead role in Canada in supporting the exploration of applications for CNC in order to enhance their support of the forestry sector. CNC are highly crystalline rod-like particles that are very attractive as reinforcing agents in nano-composites due to desirable properties, such as high strength and stiffness and relatively low density. Canada is the global leader in the production of the CNC material; therefore, it is strategically important to develop an improved understanding of the reinforcing potential of CNC and use that knowledge to develop new nano-composite materials. This will provide pathways to commercial applications in Canada and around the world for this naturally abundant material. For this purpose, this proposal aims in investigating addition of CNC into one of the most commonly used polymers in the world, Nylon 6. This polymer is used to produce fibers and engineering materials such as polymeric films; however, incorporation of CNC into Nylon 6 has not been well investigated and documented in the literature. During this project, the researchers will incorporate different amounts of CNC into polymeric films and fibers. The findings will be used to generate design curves for engineers around the world to promote large scale use of CNC in Nylon 6 applications. This project is supported by FPInnovations as the industrial partner. Additionally, along with this proposal, Dr. Ayranci and his collaborator, Dr. Cranston (McMaster), are also applying to the Alberta-Ontario Innovation Program (AOIP) for extra funding. AOIP is formed between Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, Ontario Centres of Excellence, government of AB and ON, and NSERC.