Sustainable Nanocomposites for 3D Printing

先进材料在新产品(汽车、航空航天、建筑等)的制造中发挥着重要作用。在加拿大和其他现代经济体。最近，聚合物纳米复合材料和功能材料降低了制造成本(由于加工温度较低)，同时提高了产品的性能(重量轻，刚性高)。因此，出现了对具有改进的性能、新的功能和可持续属性的产品的持续需求。聚合物纳米复合材料是由聚合物树脂组成的杂化材料，其中含有在纳米尺度上均匀分散的不同相。制造混杂材料的基本原理是扩展商用树脂的性能，从而在仍能使用现有制造基础设施的情况下改善聚合物功能。聚合物纳米复合材料可以填补材料和制造领域的空白。 这项提议旨在开发适用于3D打印等先进制造的可持续聚合物纳米复合材料。多糖纳米粒将用于制备聚合物纳米复合材料并应用于3D打印；本研究计划的额外新颖性在于对三种多糖纳米粒进行了比较。纳米淀粉和纳米纤维素在工业规模上的有效性是最近才出现的，而聚(α-1，3-葡聚糖)纳米颗粒即将问世。。此外，这项研究将在利用可再生纳米颗粒制备新型聚合物纳米复合材料与3D打印应用之间取得进展。在基础水平上，本研究将研究这些可再生纳米颗粒在3D打印制造过程中聚合物纳米复合材料的固化过程中所起的作用，以及3D打印部件的刚性增强。这项研究将使用实验方法和建模来将纳米颗粒的形态与物理特性(凝固速度和硬度)联系起来。 这项研究计划的预期影响将是获得新的可持续材料，用于制造复杂汽车零部件的原型，这是加速开发下一代轻型和安全汽车所需的。通过该计划培训的HQP将为拥有先进材料和制造专业知识的工业和学术界的职业生涯提供独特的定位。他们将在化学和材料工程、可再生纳米材料、生物产品、添加剂制造(3D打印)、材料的高级表征和建模领域拥有基础知识。它们将能够推动加拿大相关工业部门(汽车、航空航天、建筑、生物医学和消费品)创新所需的新材料的开发。

Advanced materials play a major role in the manufacturing of new products (automotive, aerospace, building, etc.) in Canada and other modern economies. Most recently, polymer nanocomposites and functional materials have enabled lower manufacturing costs (due to low temperature of processing) while improving the performance of products (lightweight, high stiffness). As a consequence, a continuous demand for products with improved performance, new functionality, and sustainability attributes have emerged. Polymer nanocomposites are hybrid materials consisting of polymer resins containing a distinct phase well dispersed at the nanometer scale. The rationale for creating hybrid materials is to extend the properties of commercially available resins, which results in improved polymer functionality while still being able to use existing manufacturing infrastructure. Polymer nanocomposites can fill gaps in the materials and manufacturing area. This proposal aims to develop sustainable polymer nanocomposites suitable for advanced manufacturing like 3D printing. Polysaccharide nanoparticles will be used in the preparation of polymer nanocomposites and applied to 3D printing; the additional novelty of this research program lies in the comparison of three types of polysaccharide nanoparticles. The availably of nanostarch and nanocellulose at industrial scale is very recent, whereas nanoparticles of poly(alfa1,3-glucan) are just about to become available. . Moreover, this research will make strides to correlate the preparation of novel polymer nanocomposites using renewable nanoparticles with applications in 3D printing. At the fundamental level, this research will investigate the role that these renewable nanoparticles play in the solidification of the polymer nanocomposites during 3D printing manufacturing and the enhancements in stiffness of 3D printed parts. The research will use experimental methods and modeling to correlate the morphology of the nanoparticles to physical properties (rate of solidification and stiffness). The expected impact of this research program will be the availability of new sustainable materials for prototyping complex automotive components required to accelerate the development of the next generation of lightweight and safe vehicles. HQP trained through this program will be uniquely positioned for careers in industry and academia with expertise in advanced materials and manufacturing. They will have fundamental knowledge in the fields of chemical and materials engineering, renewable nanomaterials, bioproducts, additive manufacturing (3D printing), advanced characterization of materials and modeling. They will be capable of advancing the development of novel materials required for innovation in relevant industrial sectors in Canada (automotive, aerospace, building, biomedical and consumer goods).