Toughening up polymer composites.Toughening up polymer composites Chemical engineer E. Bruce Nauman E. Bruce Nauman is a professor of chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has an international reputation based on numerous books, patents and journal publications. He consults widely and has directed the research of thirty-one doctoral students. of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N.Y.; coeducational; founded and opened 1824 as Rensselaer School; chartered 1826. It was called Rensselaer Institute from 1837 to 1861. in Troy, N.Y., has invented a chemical process for making tougher composite materials composite material or composite, any material made from at least two discrete substances, such as concrete. Many materials are produced as composites, such as the fiberglass-reinforced plastics used for automobile bodies and boat hulls, but the . The process, called "compositional quenching quenching Rapid cooling, as by immersion in oil or water, of a metal object from the high temperature at which it is shaped. Quenching is usually done to maintain mechanical properties that would be lost with slow cooling. ,' involves dissolving two incompatible polymers--ones that have the same kind of relationship that oil has with water--in a common solvent and then heating the mixture quickly under pressure. The result is a new composite material that is tougher than many polymers and other composite materials now available. Such a material's greater resiliency, says Nauman, would make it useful for football helmets and automobile bodies. |
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