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"Metal Rubber"
Nanostructured Materials—NanoSonic, Inc.,
Dr. Jennifer H. Lalli, Principal
Investigator, jlalli@nanosonic.com
Mrs. Linda Duncan, Business
Official, lmduncan@nanosonic.com
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER84019
Amount: $750,000
This project will develop a
“metal rubber” product – a highly electrically-conductive, elastomeric, and
transparent nanocomposite – that maintains electrical conductivity or provides
EMI shielding while under mechanical, thermal, and environmental stress. The materieal can be used as lightning strike
and EMI shielding protective coatings for commercial and advanced aircraft, and
in state-of-the-art flexible microelectronics and sensors. During Phase I, several nanocomposites were
modeled and prepared layer-by-layer by the self-assembly of metal nanoparticles
and elastomeric polymers. The
relationship between sheet resistance, transmission, and mechanical properties
were investigated. A bulk resistivity of
10-5 Ω∙cm was demonstrated (recall that the resistivity of bulk gold
is 10-6 Ω∙cm), which is important
because a smaller amount of metal would be needed for manufacturing,
thereby reducing costs. The tradeoff in material properties was
controlled through chemical processing based on (1) the choice and volume
fraction of metal nanoparticles and (2) the choice and crosslink density of the
organic polymer component. In Phase II,
the properties of the material will be optimized for commerical applications,
especially as high performance coatings for aircraft and microelectronics
packaging.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new “metal-rubber” material should find application as: (1) advanced window coating materials for next-generation commercial airplanes, (2) similar coatings for military aircraft transparencies, and (3) flexible conducting electrodes and mechanical sensors in the electronics market. In addition, the technology should expand the use of nanotechnology as a practical manufacturing technique.