Process 11 Twin-Screw Extruder for Advanced Polymer Blending

这个NSERC RTI申请要求资金购买一个过程11双螺杆挤出机，这是迫切需要支持在马尼托巴大学的各种新颖的研究应用。挤出是聚合物工业中最常用的生产方法之一，是混合、复合和将添加剂掺入聚合物混合物的主要技术。这些过程在包括食品包装材料在内的广泛行业中都有应用。培训的使用，并与经验，先进的挤出机是必不可少的所有HQP工作与聚合物。生物系统工程系的David Levin博士和Song Liu博士将使用Process 11双螺杆挤出机开发智能食品包装材料，该材料由混合的可生物降解聚合物组成，具有增强的物理和热性能，并添加天然抗氧化剂，抗菌剂和/或ph敏感化合物。电气和计算机工程系的Derek Oliver博士和曼尼托巴材料研究所（MIM）主任将使用Process 11挤出机探索混合生物可降解聚合物作为电绝缘体的使用，并研究其在微米尺度上的非破坏性降解过程。虽然双螺杆挤出机位于马尼托巴大学食品和营养科学系，但它专门用于食品应用，不能用于混合不同类型的聚合物和添加生物活性化合物。HQP目前在这些材料上的工作依赖于与皇后大学的一位教授的合作，这导致每个共同申请人及其学生的研究目标进展严重延迟。无论是本科生还是研究生，都不能及时完成实验，这影响了他们收集数据、发表结果、发表高质量论文和毕业的能力。获得Process 11双螺杆挤出机将大大有利于研究人员和他们的HQP，显著提高他们复合通常不兼容的不同聚合物类型的能力。过程11挤出机将使生物可降解的食品包装材料的发展，以及电气绝缘材料，而不是来自石油化工的来源。这些材料的制造还将使生物降解研究和受控降解过程的发展成为可能，这些过程需要在其生命周期结束时完成循环，实现真正可持续发展的聚合物工业的愿景。工艺11双螺杆挤出机将极大地促进聚合物基材料科学本科生、研究生和博士后的培养，并加速智能、可生物降解食品包装材料以及先进电绝缘体的发展。

This NSERC RTI application requests funds to purchase a Process 11 twin-screw extruder, which is urgently required to support a variety of novel research applications at the University of Manitoba. Extrusion is one of the most-used methods of production in the polymer industry, and is the primary technique for blending, compounding, and incorporating additives into polymer mixtures. These processes find applications in a wide range of industries, including food-packaging materials. Training in the use of, and experience with, an advanced extruder is essential for all HQP working with polymers. Dr. David Levin and Dr. Song Liu in the Department of Biosystems Engineering will use the Process 11 twin-screw extruder to develop smart food-packaging materials consisting of blended biodegradable polymers with enhanced physical and thermal properties, with the addition of natural antioxidants, antimicrobial, and/or pH-sensitive compounds. Dr. Derek Oliver, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director of the Manitoba Institute for Materials (MIM) will use the Process 11 extruder to explore the use of blended biodegradable polymers as electrical insulators, and study their non-destructive degradation processes at the micron scale. Although a twin-screw extruder is located in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Manitoba, it is used exclusively for food applications, and cannot be used for the blending of different polymer types with the addition of bioactive compounds. HQP currently working on these materials rely on a collaboration with a Professor at Queens University, which has resulted in significant delays in progress towards research objectives for each of the co-applicants and their students. Both undergraduate and graduate students are unable to complete experiments in a timely manner, which is affecting their ability to collect data, publish their results, produce high quality Theses, and graduate. Acquisition of the Process 11 twin-screw extruder will greatly benefit the researchers and their HQP by significantly improving their ability to compound different polymers types that normally would not be compatible. The Process 11 extruder will enable the development of biodegradable food-packaging materials, as well as electrical insulation materials, that are not sourced from petrochemical origins. The manufacture of these materials will also enable investigations of biodegradation and the development of controlled degradation processes that are needed to close the circle at their end-of-life, fulfilling the vision of a truly sustainable polymer industry. The Process 11 Twin-screw extruder will greatly facilitate training of undergraduate students, graduate students, and Postdoctoral Fellows in polymer-based material sciences, and accelerate the development of smart, biodegradable food-packaging materials, as well as advanced electrical insulators.