PROJECT PN II - IDEI No. 307/2011
(PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0544)

Romanian Version

Structure-dynamics-properties relationships and aging effects in nanocomposite elastomers and proton exchange membranes

Project summary:
The aim of the present project proposal is to build a research team to produce important new results in the domain of advanced materials for the characterization of nanocomposite elastomers and proton exchange membranes, in order to increase the international visibility of Romanian research. The relationships between filled polymer structure and dynamics in correlation with mechanical or proton conduction properties is subjected to various environmental conditions. For that, we propose to develop new, complex tools for the characterization of nanofiled polymers, both elastomers and PEMs, which combine advanced NMR methods with Laplace-like inversion procedure and to correlate the results with classical FTIR spectroscopy, AFM imaging, DSC thermal analysis, mechanical analysis. Moreover, the experimental results will be correlated with theoretical approaches and with numerical simulations: MONTE-CARLO simulations of the dynamics of penetrant molecules swallowed into the polymeric network in the presence of molecular exchange and molecular mechanics simulations of polymeric network dynamics. For the firs time, for such a large class of filled EPDMs and in the incipient study for our perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes, the accelerated aging effect is correlated with natural aging. The project will include three PhD student (one new), improving their scientific skills and will increase the Technical University visibility by publishing the results in ISI ranked journals.

Project duration:
5 October 2011 - 4  October 2016

Project Financing     

Project Manager:
Prof. Dr. Radu FECHETE
Physics and Chemistry Department
Faculty of Materials and Environmental Engineering
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Str. B-dul Muncii, No. 103-105
Cluj-Napoca, Romania