Polymers for realizing energetic materials with tailored performance

在过去的二十年里，能源储存和释放、安全问题和进入太空成为西方经济体的关键技术领域。聚合物基材料，如塑料和复合材料，在这些新技术中发挥着重要作用。高能聚合物被定义为在短的分解时间内产生大量能量的聚合物，通常是由于其主链上存在叠氮基和硝基。当与氧化剂和固体燃料如金属颗粒混合时，它们可用作固体推进剂、炸药制剂和气体发生器组合物如汽车气囊或其他爆炸致动安全装置中的粘合剂或核心组分。 这项研究旨在开发创新的工艺和材料，以增加聚合物在高能材料领域的使用。更具体地说，我的最终目标将是获得新型聚合物基高能材料，这些材料可以安全地加工和使用，环境足迹最小，尽可能采用可生物降解的预聚物。还必须寻求新的制造技术，以充分利用新的高能粘合剂的好处。其中，增材制造（AM）在零件设计和受控能量释放方面提供了全新的可能性。增材制造技术将很快使更智能的高能材料驱动系统具有定制的性能。虽然塑料材料的增材制造现在已经很成熟，但其在高能材料领域的等同物仍然处于发展的早期阶段。 热塑性材料通常更容易回收。 大多数塑料产品的设计都是为了满足特定的机械性能。此外，含能聚合物基塑料和弹性体还必须达到令人满意的燃烧性能。迄今为止，这两个标准几乎不可能在单一热塑性产品中获得，因为提高燃烧速率的化学组成，例如硝基的存在，由于结晶度降低而通常对机械性能有害。某些AM原料需要热塑性。为了增强含能聚合物的这种特性，将在两个方面进行努力：1）现有含能聚合物的化学改性和2）新含能聚合物的合成，以扩大可能的共混物的研究范围。我们将特别关注我们最近开始开发的聚四唑和聚三唑。 这个创新的研究计划是对高能材料行业面临的当代挑战的回答。AM将减少制造占地面积，按需制造和快速原型制造高能部件，如智能，更安全和可回收的安全气囊，超高速推进系统或先进的微型卫星推进器。

The last two decades have seen energy storage and release, security issues and access to space emerged as key technological areas of western economies. Polymer based materials, such as plastics and composites, have an important role to play in these novel technologies. Energetic polymers are defined as polymers that produce a significant amount of energy in a short decomposition time, often owing to the presence of azide and nitro groups on their backbone. When mixed with oxidizers and solid fuels such as metal particles, they find use as binders or core components in solid propellants, explosives formulations, and gas generator compositions such as automotive airbags or other explosive actuated safety devices. This research is aimed at developing innovative processes and materials allowing for an increased use of polymers in the field of energetic materials. More specifically, my final objective will be to obtain novel polymer based energetic materials that can be safely processed and used with minimal environmental footprint, employing biodegradable prepolymers whenever possible. Novel fabrication techniques must also be sought to fully exploit the benefits of new energetic binders. Among them, additive manufacturing (AM) offers an entirely new range of possibilities in terms of part designs and controlled energy release. AM technology will soon allow smarter energetic material driven systems with tailored performance. While AM of plastic materials is now well established, its equivalent in the field of energetic materials remains a technology at its early stage of development. Thermoplastic materials are generally easier to recycle. Most plastics products are designed to meet specific mechanical properties. Energetic polymers-based plastics and elastomers must, in addition, also reach satisfactorily combustion properties. These two criteria have so far been almost impossible to obtain in a single thermoplastic product, as the chemical composition that enhances the burning rate, such as the presence of nitro groups, is often detrimental to mechanical properties due to a reduced cristallinity. Thermoplasticity is required for some AM feedstocks. In order to enhance this characteristic in energetic polymers efforts will be deployed on two fronts: 1) the chemical modification of existing energetic polymers and 2) the synthesis of new energetic polymers to enlarge the set of possible blends to investigate. A special attention will be given to polytetrazoles and polytriazoles that we have recently started to develop. This innovative research program is an answer to contemporary challenges faced by the energetic materials industry. AM will bring reduced manufacturing footprint, on-demand fabrication and rapid prototyping of energetic components such as smart, safer and recyclable airbags, hypervelocity propulsion systems or advanced thrusters for micro-satellites.