(Invited) The Challenge of Shaping Ideas into Applications: The Multi-Competences Approach in Industrial Innovation

Abstract

The number of application fields of polymeric materials has impressively broadened over the few decades following the implementation of industrial polymerisation production processes. Synthesis of new polymers or a more advanced control of the molecular design of polyolefinic materials has often driven the technological innovations that are at the base of our modern society. The production of polymer based goods at industrial level is an extraordinary example of multidisciplinary collaboration. Either starting from designing new materials, or starting from the property requirement of the end application, the original idea needs to develop based on the knowledge of the material properties, of the technology enabling its synthesis, and of the processing conditions to transform it into the required application. In fact, driving the innovation of polymeric materials and applications requires the understanding of the structure-property relationships along the whole value chain and a sound knowledge of physical and chemical processes at many different scales. In this perspective, new developments pull for a closer cooperation of experts from different fields and for a smarter use of the resources, including a systematic design of experiments, the increased access to modelling tools to understand and predict processes and phenomena, and a better use of the full set of data available (digitalisation). Recent material developments have been possible in Borealis following such multi competences approach and some selected cases will be presented. It will be shown, for example, how the development of polypropylene fiber reinforced materials, and in particular long glass fibers (PP-LGF), is based on the ability to monitor the major parameters correlating with the mechanical performance, namely the final fibre length, the distribution, and the orientation, throughout production and conversion of reinforced, injection moulded polymer parts for automotive applications. The possibility of material modelling for understanding how to influences fiber length during production and conversion allowed to establish a guideline of best practice to get the maximum out PP-LGF. It will be also shown how modelling of film production process parameters can be used for understanding how to influence the structure and morphology generated in thin films, and how this might be correlated to the electrical insulation and anti-cling properties of the BOPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene) dielectric layer in capacitors. As third example, the correlation between multimodal polymer design, crystallisation conditions and pressure pipe performance will be presented, discussing how modelling the entangled polymer network would help in predicting the pressure pipe life time.