Lighter and stronger reinforced composites with control of the orientation of the reinforcing elements

Profil Titel	Lighter and stronger reinforced composites with control of the orientation of the reinforcing elements
Referenz	10 CH 84FB 3JTM
Herkunftsland	Switzerland
Kooperationsart	Angebot
Eintrag/Änderung	2010-12-17 / 2010-12-17
Status	Dieses Profil ist abgelaufen! Falls Sie denoch Interesse haben, kontaktieren Sie uns. (2011-12-15)

Kurzfassung

A Swiss university offers a technology with deliberate control of the orientation of reinforcing elements in polymer-based advanced composites. The technology – making composites applications stronger and lighter - relies on the use of magnetic nanoparticles to enable the orientation of non-magnetic reinforcing particles. Applications in wind energy, cars & transport, sport and health. Type of collaboration sought: license agreement, joint further development and/or testing of new applications.

Details

Background reinforced composite materials
Composite materials with reinforcing particles embedded in a matrix material are extensively used in construction, aerospace, automobile and medical industries. These composites employ continuous or discontinuous fibres to rein-force polymeric matrices. Though this reinforcement enhances the mechanical strength and stiffness of the matrix, it is limited to one specific direction. 3-D reinforcement remains challenging due to the limited control of particles in the out-of-plane direction. Recent attempts to solve this issue involve synthetic procedures that show nominal improvements.

Lighter and stronger with magnetic nanoparticles
Small quantities of magnetic nanoparticles (below 0.01% by volume) are temporarily attached to the reinforcement particle of interest. The reinforcing particle is then combined with the polymer precursor material that is subsequently cross-linked or solidified. The application of a low magnetic field is required to orient the reinforcing particles (See figure with 3D-oriented reinforcing platelets). The surprisingly low magnetic fields required to achieve orientation allow for the use of conventional, cheap magnets to achieve platelet alignment.

Removal of nanoparticles after consolidation
After the matrix is consolidated, the magnetic nanoparticles can be controlled removed without effect on the reinforced composites and as to cause no harm to human health at any time.

The highly improved material properties – lighter and stronger - can be used for many different market application areas like:
- (wind-) energy-related,
- car and transport-related
- health-related
- sport related and
- construction

Field of Application by increased functionality:
- Advanced composites with enhanced delamination strength
- Polymer coatings with increased compression stiffness perpendicular to the surface
- Flaw-tolerant advanced composites
- Scratch resistant coatings and laminates

Innovative Aspects:
- 10-fold increase in compression stiffness perpendicular to the film surface: highly improved material properties
- Coatings with 10-fold smaller out-of-plane thickness
- Low magnetic fields required (0.001 – 0.01 Tesla) for alignment and low magnetic nanoparticles content (0.01%) required
- Control to locally reinforce regions of high stress concentration: enhanced options in component design