Schedule of Industrial Innovations Award presentations

William Rodgers, Research & Development Center, General Motors Corporation
POLYOLEFIN-BASED NANOCOMPOSITES

A description of polyolefin based nanocomposites for use in the Automotive Industry will be discussed. In particular, we will discuss some of the factors that come into play when making a nanocomposite material. The resulting parts made from the nanocomposite have excellent physical, mechanical, and durability properties but at a 7 to 21% mass savings depending on the conventional material that they replace. We will also discuss other benefits resulting from the use of these nanocomposite materials.

E.C. Lee and D. Mielewski, Ford Research Laboratory, Ford Motor Company
IN SITU ULTRASONIC MELT PROCESSING OF POLYOLEFIN NANOCOMPOSITES

Polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites have great potential in the automotive industry due to their attractive properties such as high heat deflection temperature, high stiffness, and low thermal expansion. These properties can be achieved at extremely low silicate loadings provided that the silicate layers are well dispersed and exfoliated throughout the polymer matrix. The exfoliation of charged layered silicate clays into non-polar polyolefin matrices, however, remains a challenge. This paper will discuss a novel method for the dispersion and exfoliation of layered silicate clays into polypropylene by use of ultrasonication in the polymer melt state. The in situ technique was shown to be effective in batch processing, and can easily be extended to continuous processes such as extrusion or injection molding. The ultrasonication method used here is not sensitive to the polymer-filler system, and also has the potential to minimize the use of compatibilizers.