Feeders and Laser Micrometer for Existing State-of-the-Art Twin-Screw Extruder

聚合物和多功能聚合物复合材料（聚合物和功能填料的混合物）由于其重量轻、成本低、易于加工、耐腐蚀和改进的设计选择而在不同行业中迅速取代金属和陶瓷。这些特性使得聚合物材料成为无数科学研究领域以及工业应用（例如能源、电子、国防、汽车、航空航天、建筑等）中有吸引力的基础材料。双螺杆挤出机是聚合物工业中加工聚合物和聚合物复合材料并使其形成所需形状的关键设备。不列颠哥伦比亚省大学（UBCO）的Okanagan校区有幸拥有最先进的双螺杆挤出机，用于熔融混合各种聚合物和功能性填料，以开发多功能聚合物复合材料。这种设置在UBC两个校区都是独一无二的，被认为是满足BC省聚合物和聚合物复合材料领域学术界和工业界需求的动力。然而，该设备仍然缺乏（1）进料器，以便在连续模式下以预设比例控制功能填料和聚合物的混合，和（2）激光测微计，以连续监测所产生的聚合物和聚合物复合材料长丝的直径。这项研究计划旨在获得资金来购买这些缺失的部件，因此该设置可以提供满足不列颠哥伦比亚省和加拿大学术界和先进行业需求的优质产品。目前，由于没有喂料机，我们的HQP使用不准确的批量预混和插入将聚合物和填料添加到挤出机中，导致最终产品和研究数据不可靠（不可重复）。因此，需要两个进料器（一个用于聚合物，一个用于功能性填料）以连续模式在精确的填料加载下开发聚合物复合材料。此外，激光测微仪在连续模式下监测长丝直径的一致性，从而生产高质量的均匀长丝和颗粒是必不可少的。所需的喂料机和激光测微计将放置在UBCO新建立的清洁技术中心（称为创新区（IP1）大楼）的现有挤出机装置旁边并与之相连。首先，挤出机将支持来自UBC两个校区的申请人团队（Arjmand，Rojas，Jiang，Abdin和Zarifi博士），他们每天都迫切需要这种设备。与此同时，该设备预计将为UBC其他材料和制造相关研究项目的其他合作教师带来许多机会，特别是来自生物产品研究所（BPI），材料和制造研究所（MMRI），先进材料和制造（AMM）研究集群和复合材料研究网络的同事。

Polymers and multifunctional polymer composites (a mixture of polymers and functional fillers) are rapidly substituting metals and ceramics in different industries due to their lightweight, low cost, easy processability, corrosion resistance, and improved design options. These properties have made polymeric materials an attractive base material in a myriad of scientific research fields as well as industrial applications, such as energy, electronics, defence, automotive, aerospace, construction, among others. Twin-screw extruder is a key piece of equipment in the polymer industry to process polymers and polymer composites and render them the desired shape. The Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia (UBCO) has the privilege of possessing a state-of-the-art twin-screw extruder to melt mix a broad spectrum of polymers and functional fillers towards the development of multifunctional polymer composites. This setup is unique across both UBC campuses and deemed to function as horsepower to satisfy the needs of academia and industry in the area of polymer and polymer composites in the province of BC. However, the equipment still lacks (1) feeders in order to have a controlled mixing of functional fillers and polymers at pre-set ratios in continuous mode and (2) a laser micrometer to continuously monitor the diameter of generated polymer and polymer composite filaments. This research proposal aims to secure funding to purchase these missing parts, so the setup can render fine products meeting the needs of academia and advanced industries across BC and Canada. Currently, due to the absence of feeders, our HQP adds polymers and fillers to the extruder using inaccurate bulk premixing and insertion, resulting in unreliable (non-repeatable) final products and research data. As such, two feeders are required (one for the polymer and one for the functional filler) to develop polymer composites at precise filler loadings in continuous mode. Furthermore, the laser micrometer is essential to monitor the consistency of filaments' diameter in continuous mode, thereby generating high-quality homogeneous filaments and pellets. The requested feeders and laser micrometer will be placed beside and linked to the existing extruder setup in the newly established Clean Tech Hub at UBCO, called Innovation Precinct (IP1) building. Primarily, the extruder will support the team of applicants (Drs. Arjmand, Rojas, Jiang, Abdin, and Zarifi) from both UBC campuses, who are in urgent need of this equipment daily. At the same time, the equipment is expected to bring many opportunities for other collaborating faculty members across UBC in other materials- and manufacturing-related research projects, especially for colleagues from BioProducts Institute (BPI), Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute (MMRI), Advanced Materials and Manufacturing (AMM) Research Cluster, and Composites Research Network.