Design and Tailoring of Lightweight Polymer Blend Nanocomposites with Enhanced Properties

在当今的市场中，消费者需要更轻的重量和更小的电子设备，具有更好的功能和设计选项。到2022年，对轻质材料的需求预计将达到2000亿美元左右，聚合物复合材料在全球轻质材料市场占据主导地位。2014年，聚合物纳米复合材料是一个价值50亿美元的产业，预计到2025年将增长到310亿美元，但人们对如何设计这些材料知之甚少。新型多相聚合物材料，如聚合物混合纳米复合材料（PBNs），是电子、汽车、军事、航空航天、包装、光伏、传感器、电池和燃料电池的理想候选者。聚合物共混纳米复合材料是由两种或两种以上的聚合物与纳米填料混合而成的杂化材料。通过精心选择成分、化学和制造来控制PBN结构，我们可以获得具有增强性能和性能组合的新材料，这些新材料无法从单一材料中获得。pbn在诸如电荷存储、个人电子产品和军事伪装的电磁干扰屏蔽以及银河宇宙射线屏蔽（外层空间车辆）等高级应用中的应用仍处于起步阶段。因此，为了充分利用这一市场趋势，对PBN的配方和性能进行研究是必不可少的。

In today's marketplace, consumers demand lighter weight and smaller electronic devices with improved functionality and design options. Demand for lightweight materials is expected to reach ca. $200 billion by 2022, and polymer composites dominate the global lightweight market. In 2014, polymer nanocomposite was a $5 billion dollar industry and is projected to grow to $31 billion in 2025, yet there is little understanding about how to design these materials. Novel multiphase polymer materials, such as polymer blend nanocomposites (PBNs), are ideal candidates for electronics, automotive, military, aerospace, packaging, photovoltaics, sensors, batteries, and fuel cells. Polymer blend nanocomposites are hybrid materials of two or more polymers mixed with nanofillers. By controlling PBN structure through careful selection of components, chemistry, and fabrication, we can obtain new materials with enhanced performance and combination of properties that cannot be obtained from a single material. Use of PBNs for advanced applications like charge storage, electromagnetic interference shielding for personal electronics and military camouflage, and galactic cosmic ray shielding (vehicles for outer space) are still in their infancy. Therefore, to take full advantage of this market trend, research into PBN formulation and performance is essential. In this program, our end goal is to create property-structure-processing-synthesis maps, which will be used to design and tailor PBNs. Electrical conductivity, static discharge, charge storage and EMI shielding will be the main properties of focus. We will synthesize a variety of novel nanomaterials with specific properties (e.g. high electrical conductivity) like carbon nanotubes, graphene and nano metal wires to impart electrical properties to PBNs. We will find relationships between properties and system chemistries, flow characteristics, composition, physical properties and processing conditions. Research proposed here will train highly qualified individuals for careers in high tech industries. We will take advantage of a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and technicians to control all aspects of the design and development of PBNs. This work will be critical for Canadian manufacturers of polymer materials and the customers of these novel materials such as automotive, aerospace and electronics industries that are under constant pressure to find lower cost, lighter weight, higher performance materials. Our group has a significant advantage due to the breadth of knowledge on polymer blends and nanocomposites, which is the foundation needed to create methods to design and tailor PBNs. We can span the entire development process: synthesize inorganic nanomaterial filler; perform processing using our custom-built miniature mixers; extensive structure and material property characterization. This program will provide critical guidance to manufacturers and users of multiphase polymer materials.