Oriented UHMWPE Products Through Solvent-Free Hot Stretching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional processes for producing highly thermally conductive ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) products are energy-intensive, cumbersome, and require large amounts of solvents, limiting their commercial viability and environmental friendliness.
Innovation Solution
A solvent-free process is developed to prepare oriented UHMWPE products by hot stretching disentangled UHMWPE at temperatures below its melt temperature (120°C to 160°C) with specific stretch ratios, utilizing additives like carbon nanotubes or graphene to enhance thermal conductivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional processes are used to produce highly thermally conductive UHMWPE products, then thermal conductivity is improved, but energy consumption increases and the process becomes cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the processing temperature parameter by performing hot stretching at temperatures below the melt temperature (120°C to 160°C) rather than using conventional high-temperature processing. This parameter change achieves high thermal conductivity (70-200 W/mK) while reducing energy consumption and avoiding the cumbersome conventional processes
2Temperature
If conventional processes are used to produce highly thermally conductive UHMWPE products, then thermal conductivity is improved, but process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the need for large amounts of solvents from the conventional process. The solvent-free hot stretching process achieves high thermal conductivity without the cumbersome solvent handling, purification, and recovery steps required in conventional processes
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the temperature parameter to operate below melt temperature and using solvent-free conditions, the patent simplifies the process while achieving superior thermal conductivity results
3Temperature
If conventional processes are used to produce highly thermally conductive UHMWPE products, then thermal conductivity is improved, but solvent usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent completely removes solvents from the processing system by using a solvent-free hot stretching approach. This eliminates the need for large amounts of solvents while still achieving high thermal conductivity (70-200 W/mK) in the UHMWPE products
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the processing conditions to operate in a solvent-free environment at controlled temperatures (120°C to 160°C), transforming the conventional solvent-dependent process into an environmentally friendly alternative
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process achieves high axial thermal conductivity (70-200 W/mK) and high heat capacity (6-25 MJ/m³K) in UHMWPE products, suitable for thermal management systems, while being simple and eco-friendly.
Implementation Method 1
hot stretching disentangled UHMWPE at temperatures below its melt temperature (120°C to 160°C) with specific stretch ratios
Implementation Method 2
The randomly oriented crystal region composed of folded ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) chains changes to highly oriented crystal region composed of extended chains
Implementation Method 3
Heat in the polymer is conducted in the direction of the covalently bonded molecular chains and in case of oriented products, the conductivity depends on the crystallinity, orientation, crystal size, length of molecular chains
Implementation Method 4
utilizing additives like carbon nanotubes or graphene to enhance thermal conductivity
Implementation Method 5
utilizing additives like carbon nanotubes or graphene to enhance thermal conductivity
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a process for preparing of high thermal conductivity and high heat capacity oriented ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) product. The process includes feeding UHMWPE through rollers to obtain a pre-laminate which is further hot stretched to obtain the oriented UHMWPE product having high thermal conductivity and high heat capacity. The temperature of stretching is maintained below the melt temperature of the UHMWPE throughout the entire process. There is also provided a high thermal conductivity and high heat capacity oriented UHMWPE product prepared by the process of the present disclosure. The oriented UHMWPE product is characterized in the axial thermal conductivity in the range of 70 to 200 W/mK, transverse direction thermal conductivity in the range of 0.022 to 0.045W/mK and heat capacity in the range of 6 to 25 MJ/m3K.