Sustainable tire waste aerogel with tunable flexibility made from recycled tires for automotive applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12157799-B2
Application number	US-202318539725-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2023
Priority date	Jan 10, 2022
Publication date	Dec 3, 2024
Grant date	Dec 3, 2024

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an elastic polymer aerogel material includes dissolving tire waste in a first portion of a solvent to form a first mixture; dissolving a polymer having at least one double carbon-carbon bond in a second portion of the solvent to form a second mixture; combining the first mixture and the second mixture, wherein the tire waste reacts with the polymer having at least one double carbon-carbon bond to form a reactant gel; and undergoing a solvent exchange on the reactant gel followed by freeze drying the reactant gel to form the elastic polymer aerogel material. The tire waste includes natural rubber, synthetic polymers, steel, and curing systems, and the elastic polymer aerogel material defines a 3D porous structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an elastic polymer aerogel material, the method comprising:
dissolving tire waste, the tire waste comprising natural rubber, synthetic polymers, steel, and curing systems, in a first portion of a solvent to form a first mixture;
dissolving a polymer having at least one double carbon-carbon bond in a second portion of the solvent to form a second mixture;
combining the first mixture and the second mixture, wherein the tire waste reacts with the polymer having at least one double carbon-carbon bond to form a reactant gel; and
undergoing a solvent exchange on the reactant gel followed by freeze drying the reactant gel to form the elastic polymer aerogel material,
wherein the elastic polymer aerogel material defines a 3D porous structure.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reactant gel is spun into nanofibers before undergoing the solvent exchange.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising adding a filler material into the second mixture to form a filler-reinforced elastic polymer aerogel material.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the filler material is nano silicon.

5. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the filler material is selected from the group consisting of graphite, carbon black, nanotubes, and nano fibers.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reactant gel comprises disulfide crosslinks generated by oxidation in the combining step.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reactant gel comprises sulfide crosslinks generated by a thiol-ene reaction in the combining step.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a degree of polymerization of the reactant gel is controlled to modify a flexural modulus of the 3D porous structure.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the 3D porous structure has a porosity greater than 70%.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the 3D porous structure has a density between about 0.02 g/cm 3 to about 0.30 g/cm 3 .

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the 3D porous structure has a thermal conductivity between about 0.02 W/mK to about 0.10 W/mK.

12. A method of manufacturing an elastic polymer aerogel material, the method comprising:
dissolving tire waste in a first portion of a solvent to form a first mixture;
dissolving a polymer having at least one double carbon-carbon bond in a second portion of the solvent to form a second mixture;
combining the first mixture and the second mixture, wherein the tire waste reacts with the polymer having at least one double carbon-carbon bond to form a reactant gel; and
undergoing a solvent exchange on the reactant gel followed by freeze drying the reactant gel to form the elastic polymer aerogel material,
wherein the elastic polymer aerogel material defines a 3D porous structure, and
wherein, prior to the combining step, the first mixture is prepared and held at about 60° C. for about 48 hours and the second mixture is prepared and held at about 60° C. for about 6 hours.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein after the combining step and prior to the solvent exchange, the reactant gel is heated to about 80° C. for about 5 hours.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein after the combining step and prior to the solvent exchange, the reactant gel is heated using ultraviolet light for about 10 minutes.

15. The method according to claim 12 , where the solvent comprises one of benzene, dimethylformamide (DMF), and toluene.

16. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the reactant gel comprises disulfide crosslinks generated by oxidation in the combining step.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein a flexural modulus of the 3D porous structure is about 10 MPa at full crosslinking.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein a flexural modulus of the 3D porous structure is about 7 MPa at 50% degree of crosslinking.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Zhao Haibo
• Vozar Katherine Avery
• Kiziltas Alper
• Mielewski Deborah Frances

Classifications

• D01D1/02

  Preparation of spinning solutions · CPC title

• D01D5/003

  the material being a polymer solution or dispersion (D01D5/0053 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D01F6/44

  from mixtures of polymers obtained by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds as major constituent with other polymers or low-molecular-weight compounds · CPC title

• D01F1/02

  Addition of substances to the spinning solution or to the melt (addition of substances to viscose D01F2/08) · CPC title

• D01D10/00

  Physical treatment of artificial filaments or the like during manufacture, i.e. during a continuous production process before the filaments have been collected (finishing D02J) · CPC title