Intelli-Torque Extruder by Brabender

a. History: For several years we have been incorporating cellulose nanomaterials into packaging films and have been making significant progress that warrants more practical testing of their performance, including oxygen barrier performance and food shelf-life testing. Development of these films include compounding cellulose nanomaterials with polymeric systems, producing packaging films, and testing films for mechanical, barrier, and physical attributes. Our packaging program has been successful in terms of attracting new collaborations, securing external funding sources, and publication of more than 10 research articles.

b. Reason for the proposed Action: FPL has current capacity to compound cellulose nanomaterials into polymeric systems and also for barrier property testing. However, we have been unable to produce barrier films of significant size at FPL. Currently we can produce a film with a 1" width, or we can produce injection molded samples. Although there are some mechanical properties that we can obtain with injection molded samples, these do not adequately allow for characterization of properties important for packaging films. In addition, the small width films we produce can be used to obtain water vapor transmission rates but are too small to obtain oxygen transmission rates. We would also like to produce prototype packaging pouches. Capacity to produce wider films through extrusion would allow us to produce pouches and conduct the research required for barrier films, but would also attract cooperators and increase our visibility and stature in the research community.

c. General description of requirement: We have an extruder at FPL, an Intelli-Torque rheometer manufactured by Brabender CWB with a ¾" screw, which would allow for production of up to a 6" wide film if we also had the required film die, take-up rollers, and cooling system. All three components are part of the required film extrusion line and should be fully integrated with our existing system including mechanical attachment and the existing computer control software. Specifically, we require a 6" wide horizontal flex-lip die assembly compatible with our Intelli-Torque rheometer with a film thickness ranging from 2 mil to 40 mil. We also require a take-off roller system to accommodate the film that integrates to our computer control system, and the cooling equipment necessary to cool the take-off roller system.

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