Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Novel materials with unprecedented properties are often produced by the selective blending of components with complimentary, and sometimes contrasting, properties. For example, blends of immiscible polymers are frequently used in the automotive industry where an optimal balance of impact resistance, toughness, stiffness and paintability is demanded. Polymer composites containing functional inorganic particles can exhibit electrically conducting or magnetically susceptible behaviours, a combination of desirable mechanical and electromagnetic properties for nonconventional electronic applications. The material properties obtained after mixing several blend components depend heavily on how these components are distributed within the composite. Composite morphology and phase distribution can be regulated by several processing parameters. Twin-screw extruders (TSE) enable the continuous production of highly uniform polymer-based multicomponent materials with precision and reproducibility. The requested TSE will primarily support the UofA Polymer Group, an active consortium gathering over 20 faculty members and over 150 graduate students across the campus, where their research areas span the whole range of polymer science and engineering, namely polymer synthesis, polymerization reaction engineering, theory/modelling, processing, characterization, and device fabrication. However, the polymer group has been suffering with the fact that there is surprisingly no research-type polymer processing equipment in the university. The proposed TSE can profoundly benefit the Polymer Group, currently working towards the establishment of the Centre for Applied Macromolecular Engineering (CAME), a proposed industry oriented academic research centre with a vision to locate Canada to the top of the world for petroleum products in a wide range of applications. The requested TSE will also be open to all researchers at the University of Alberta.