Development of biobased engineering materials

在过去的十年中，对生物塑料的兴趣和市场急剧增长。在这些生物塑料中，聚乳酸（或PLA）已成为最重要的年度市场（约100万美元）。20亿美元），年增长率接近20%。目前，PLA的绝大多数应用都是短寿命应用。然而，在长期的工程应用中，由于PLA的耐低温性和相对脆性，目前几乎没有接触到机会。* 拟议的研究旨在开发用于工程应用的新一代生物基塑料。该提案建立在目前对生物聚酯的结晶和结构-性能关系的理解基础上。该研究将使生物基或部分生物基混合物的开发具有更好的韧性，抗冲击性和耐热性，并扩大新兴生物塑料的知识基础。特别地，将探索聚酯/丙烯酸类可混溶共混物的共混和结晶作为改善耐热性的手段。将根据丙烯酸类聚合物中的共聚单体组成和生物聚酯的光学纯度来监测相分离。相分离将与开发的材料的热转变和整体性能相关。在增韧方面，将探索功能化弹性体与生物聚酯的反应性共混，以开发具有成本竞争力的高抗冲共混物。该研究将调查可用的路线，如共混环氧橡胶，可以与聚酯的酸端基和共混的核-壳弹性体，含有丙烯酸壳，是与聚酯混溶。将公开这些材料的一般工艺-结构-性质关系。*组建的高素质人员将获得聚合物加工、电子显微镜、X射线衍射、原子力显微镜等先进材料表征方面的专业技能，以及对聚合物产品制造的深刻理解。目前人们对生物基聚合物有很大的兴趣，他们在研究生学习期间开发的专业知识将使HQP在他们未来的职业生涯中极具吸引力。

In the past decade, the interest and market for bioplastics have grown dramatically. Among these bioplastics, polylactide (or PLA) has become the most important in terms of annual market (ca. $2 billion dollar) and boasts an annual growth rate close to 20%. The vast majority of applications for PLA are currently in short lifetime applications. There is a whole window of opportunity however in longer term engineering applications that are nearly untouched for the moment because of PLA's low temperature resistance and relative brittleness. ***The proposed research aims at the development of a new generation of biobased plastics for engineering applications. The proposal builds on the current understanding of the crystallization and structure-property relationships of biopolyesters. The research will enable the development of biobased or partially biobased blends with improved toughness, impact resistance and thermal resistance and expand the knowledge base on emerging bioplastics. In particular, the blending and crystallization of polyester/acrylics miscible blends will be explored as a means to improve thermal resistance. The phase separation will be monitored as a function of the co-monomer composition in the acrylic based polymers and as a function of the optical purity of the biopolyester. The phase separation will be correlated with the thermal transitions and overall properties of the developed materials. On the toughening aspect, reactive blending of functionalized elastomers with biopolyesters will be explored in order to develop cost-competitive high impact blends. The research will investigate the available routes such as blending epoxydized rubbers that can react with acid end-groups of the polyester and blending of core-shell elastomers that contain an acrylic shell that is miscible with polyesters. The generic process-structure-property relationships of these materials will be disclosed.*** The formed highly qualified personnel will acquire specialized skills in polymer processing, advanced material characterization by electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy as well as a deep understanding on the manufacturing of polymer products. There is currently a large interest for biobased polymers and the expertise developed during their graduate studies will make the HQPs highly attractive in their future professional career.**