Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The goal of this proposed project is to develop a novel green nanotechnology to overcome the problems associated with the synthesis of nano-sized high performance elastomers. Saturated diene-based polymers are important materials which have superior end-use properties, such as enhanced tensile strength, thermal/light stability, and solvent resistance, compared to the unsaturated precursors. The present technology process for the production of these materials involves a series of complicated operation steps in which tedious pre-treatment and post-treatment and the use of a large amount of organic solvent are required, and the recovery of the catalyst from the organic solvent is difficult. This significantly increases the production cost and raises serious concerns about the negative impact of the residual solvent/catalyst in the polymers on the environment. In this proposed project, a novel nano-technology based technical route is proposed to be investigated for the synthesis of high performance elastomers. This proposed technical route is composed of a number of innovative operations, which include the synthesis of nano-sized diene-based polymers in the form of latex, direct hydrogenation of nano-sized polymers in the form of latex or solid. Because of the special characteristics in this technical route, the use of the organic solvent is not necessary, catalyst recovery becomes very easy and efficient, and pre-treatment and post-treatment can be significantly simplified. Thus, the problems existing in the present commercial process can be successfully overcome. Fruitful output of this project is anticipated, which includes a practical innovative nano-technology based hydrogenation process for the production of high performance elastomers having potential for a new commercial process. In addition, dissemination of a novel polymerization technique and the understanding of it will be reported in the literature and highly qualified personnel will be trained, and the associated technology will be significantly upgraded with a good potential for commercialization.