Sustainable Nanocomposites for 3D Printing

在加拿大和其他现代经济体中，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。最近，聚合物纳米复合材料和功能材料降低了制造成本（由于加工温度低），同时提高了产品的性能（轻量化，高刚度）。因此，对具有改进性能、新功能和可持续性属性的产品的持续需求已经出现。聚合物纳米复合材料是由含有不同相的聚合物树脂组成的杂化材料，在纳米尺度上分散良好。创建混合材料的基本原理是扩展商用树脂的性能，从而提高聚合物的功能，同时仍然能够使用现有的制造基础设施。聚合物纳米复合材料可以填补材料和制造领域的空白。该提案旨在开发适用于3D打印等先进制造的可持续聚合物纳米复合材料。多糖纳米颗粒将用于聚合物纳米复合材料的制备，并应用于3D打印；该研究项目的另一个新颖之处在于对三种类型的多糖纳米颗粒进行了比较。纳米淀粉和纳米纤维素在工业规模上的可用性是最近才出现的，而聚α - 1,3-葡聚糖的纳米颗粒才刚刚出现。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。在基础层面上，本研究将研究这些可再生纳米颗粒在3D打印制造过程中对聚合物纳米复合材料固化的作用，以及3D打印部件刚度的增强。该研究将使用实验方法和模型来将纳米颗粒的形态与物理特性（凝固速率和刚度）联系起来。这项研究计划的预期影响将是为复杂汽车部件的原型制造提供新的可持续材料，以加速下一代轻量化和安全车辆的开发。通过该项目培训的HQP将在工业和学术界具有先进材料和制造专业知识的职业生涯中处于独特的地位。他们将具备化学和材料工程、可再生纳米材料、生物制品、增材制造（3D打印）、材料高级表征和建模等领域的基础知识。他们将有能力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).