Greenthermosets Private Documents
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This project is focused on the development of new green nano composites which exploit two underused sustainable natural resources in Algeria and Portugal, namely clay and rosin from pine trees. It is significant that the process of extracting rosin from pine tree is a particular green process, involving onlya natural product (pine resin) and producing no waste (the outputs of turpentine and water are re-used in the extraction process). The objectives of this collaborative programme are to build on the expertise and experience of the partners in the project to develop a truly green approach to new nanocomposites. The project will involve all aspects of the process in transforming the extracted rosin in to a high value thermosetting resin and the exploitation of realistic applications for this new material and the manufacturing processes to be used in the preparation of those products. It has been widely established that the dispersion of montmorillonite type clay in polymeric matrices leads to considerable property enhancement including mechanical properties such as strength, modulus and dimensional stability, decreased permeability to gases, water and hydrocarbons, thermal stability and heat distortion temperature, flame retardancy and reduced smoke emissions and chemical resistance. Much of this work has focused on synthetic polymers which rarely offer the chemical configuration or chemical properties which leads to effective exfoliation and hence limits the property gains exhibited. In contrast rosins contain a number of components as the availability of carboxylic acid groups offers a highly attractive environment for exfoliation.
PI: Prof. Dr. Geoffrey Robert Mitchell
Partners: Université d’Oran, Algeria
Funding Agency: Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
Project Reference: PT-DZ/0001/2015
Funding: 83.520,00€