Granular Composite Density Enhancement Process

Granular Composite Density Enhancement Process

Princeton Docket # 12-2827

Researchers in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University and Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials have developed a novel process to substantially decrease the amount of cement required for and therefore the cost of concrete production, increase the density, strength, and longevity of concrete, increase the density and thrust of solid propellants, and increase the density and strength of granular armors and ceramics. This novel approach is to tailor the mixing of granular composites according to particle size and shape distributions, resulting in the self-assembly of denser structures. Current industry practice in preparing granular solids is primarily based on the concept of fitting very small particles into the gaps produced when large particles are packed together in a mechanically stable fashion. However, the current industry practice does not produce the densest structures. The novel structures produced by this granular composite density enhancement process can exhibit less than half of the void space than that left by the standard approach, and yet this process requires only that special attention be paid to component selection.

Applications    

·         Software based on database indicates optimal mixing of composite components given available components (e.g., best sand, fly ash, and crushed stone in concrete)

·         Fabrication of new, substantially denser (and therefore stronger, more energy-dense, etc.) granular materials based on tailored selection of components, including: solid propellants, concrete, granular armors, ceramics, etc.

Advantages     

·         Decreased use of cement for and therefore cost of concrete production

·         Increased strength and longevity of granular composites

·         Uses traditional components: no expensive additives required

·         Self-assembles: no extensive or energy-intensive fabrication process required

Publications

Hopkins, Adam B., Stillinger, Frank H., and Torquato, Salvatore.  “Disordered strictly jammed binary sphere packings attain an anomalously large range of densities.” PHYSICAL REVIEW E 88 (2013): 022205-1 - 022205-14.

Faculty Inventors

Salvatore Torquato is Professor of Chemistry and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials at Princeton University, and a Faculty Fellow of the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science.  Professor Torquato's research work is centered in statistical mechanics and soft condensed matter theory. A common theme of his research is the search for unifying and rigorous principles to elucidate a broad range of physical phenomena. His work has often challenged or overturned conventional wisdom, which has led to the resurgence of various fields or new research directions. Topics of current interest include unusual low-temperature states of matter, packing problems, structure and bulk properties of colloids, liquids, glasses, quasicrystals and crystals, novel photonic materials, discrete geometry, disordered heterogeneous materials, optimization in materials science and self-assembly theory, and modeling the dynamics of tumor growth.

Frank H. Stillinger is a Senior Scientist at Princeton University. His research interests include molecular theory of water and aqueous solutions, phase transitions, glass physics, geometric aspects of packing problems, energy landscape analyses of condensed-matter phenomena, fundamental aspects of quantum chemistry, and molecular models for spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry and its application to pre-biotic chemistry. His current research activities include the structure and kinetics of metastable materials (especially glasses), the theoretical modeling of inverse melting phenomena, and molecular models for spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry and its application to pre-biotic chemistry.

Adam B. Hopkins is a scientist and entrepreneur interested in new technology and technology commercialization. He currently leads R&D of core technology at Silicium Energy, a startup focused on the development and commercialization of silicon-based advanced thermoelectric materials. Adam received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry at Princeton University in 2012 working under a Charlotte Elizabeth Proctor Honorific Fellowship. Prior to earning his Ph.D., he worked for several years as a financial services consultant at Oliver Wyman. Adam’s research focuses on the optimal structural design of materials, including the densest packings of spheres and their relations to physical properties of certain materials (e.g., solid propellants and concrete), on the fundamentals of the critical transition in glasses, and on the key mathematical relations between spatial distributions of particles and many-bodied correlation functions. He has also worked toward the design and construction of a now-commercialized tunable liquid lens, and he has developed novel optimization methods to identify and fabricate new thermoelectric and battery materials.

Intellectual Property Status

Patent protection is pending.

Princeton is seeking to identify appropriate partners for the further development and commercialization of this technology.

Contact

Laurie Tzodikov
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-7256• tzodikov@princeton.edu

Laurie S. Bagley
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-5579• lbagley@princeton.edu