New Product Developments
New polymer research company commences collaborative product developments
Dr Graeme Moad (front right) with researchers Dr Guoxin Li (left) and Lance Nichols at the CRC-P reactive extrusion and compounding facility
Polymers Australia has already attracted interest from Australian manufacturing companies seeking to develop improved products.
The company is registered as a service provider for the Victorian Government’s Technology Voucher Program and is conducting product development activities with a dynamic Victorian small to medium enterprise supported by this program. This company has benefited from accessing expertise from three universities, CSIRO and ANSTO through Polymers Australia’s participation in the CRC for Polymers (CRC-P).
A second and larger Australian company is accessing the CRC-P’s polymer reactive extrusion and compounding facility in a Polymers Australia collaborative project that also involves CSIRO and Monash University. This project is jointly led by Dr Graeme Moad (CSIRO) and Professor George Simon (Monash University) who have been engaged in various CRC-P projects continuously from when the CRC-P was first established in 1992.
The reactive extrusion and compounding facility has been operating for about two decades. It has been used continuously to develop polymers with improved properties for a range of companies including those from the building products, packaging, plastics, and wire and cable industries. Dr Moad observes, “The extrusion facility is very versatile in allowing addition of reagents and additives directly to a polymer melt during processing. Graft copolymers, chain-extended polymers, and chain-scissioned polymers can be prepared. Nanocomposites and surface-modified polymers can also be produced. These approaches can be used alone or in combination to tailor the properties of a polymer for a given target application.”
Professor George Simon and Dr Jana Habsuda evaluating polymer properties at Monash University.
Professor George Simon is a materials engineer and his interest in the developments centre on understanding the structure – property relationships. He notes, “This can involve determining a very wide range of physical properties that relate to the end use application. For example, we have looked at measuring water vapour and oxygen permeability for packaging application, changes in microstructure and mechanical properties, and changes in surface properties. We are very well equipped to examine most properties relevant to polymer product developments.”
