Understanding and optimizing roll-to-roll manufacturing of high- strength, transparent polymer composite films

Tessellated Inc and the University of Notre Dame have produced composite thin films with the highest reported tensile strengths. These films have been produced using roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques that can be adapted to current manufacturing lines. Small amounts of fillers can be added to an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene matrix to produce thin films with high tensile strength. These films are extruded under high amounts of shear which serves to exfoliate the filler layers. These layers are further exfoliated and distributed throughout the polymer matrix in post drawing. The drawing process aligns the polymer chains and increases the crystallinity of the film. We have also demonstrated that by exfoliating graphene layers these films can be made optically transparent as well as high strength. In addition to its superior mechanical properties, the film is thermally conductive.