Evaluation of the economic feasibility of core-shell baroplastic polymers and a comparison to traditional thermoplastic elastomers

Baroplastic materials are pressure miscible systems that can be molded by the application of pressure at low/room temperature. They have the potential to replace traditional thermoplastic elastomers in many applications. To quantitatively determine the competitiveness of baroplastic materials in current markets, a detailed cost model was developed. Embedded in the cost model is a polymer flow model that predicts processing times as a function of processing pressure. The raw material cost of baroplastics was roughly estimated to input into the cost model. The results of the cost model show that baroplastics have a significant economic advantage over thermoplastic elastomers due, mostly, to the greatly reduced cycle times associated with processing baroplastic materials. Recommendations for future work include developing a more refined estimate of the raw material price of baroplastics as well as investigating the costs of more specific applications.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Ibrahim, Sarah H

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anne Mayes.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33622

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33622