Chaotic mixing method and structured materials formed therefrom

A method for the production of a multiple phase composite material, wherein the composite material comprises a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure in which said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component have predefined size and shape characteristics, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially continuous manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially continuous manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer according to controlled mixing parameters such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component form an in-situ structured arrangement of predetermined and controllable morphology within said chaotic mixer and wherein at least one of the group consisting of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component is in a substantially liquid state during mixing;
• continuously discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from the chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate of controllable morphological character;
• controlling the chaotic mixing step to controllably and progressively develop the morphologies of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component within said structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid construction having said predefined morphological structure.

A method for the production of a multiple phase composite material, wherein the composite material comprises a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure in which said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component have predefined size and shape characteristics, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially continuous manner at a controlled flow rate;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially continuous manner at a controlled flow rate;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer while the supplying steps are ongoing such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component are arranged in an in-situ structured arrangement having a structural morphology developed substantially progressively within said chaotic mixer according to a pre-established controllable evolutionary process, wherein said structural morphology is selected from the group consisting of substantially continuous multi-layered films, multi-layered films wherein at least a portion of the layers include holes of controllable size, interpenetrating blends, platelets, fibers, droplet dispersions and combinations thereof;
• controlling the chaotically mixing step and the supplying steps independently to yield predefined size and shape characteristics of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component within said in situ structured arrangement;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid construction having said predefined morphological structure.

A method for the production of a multiple phase composite construction, wherein the composite construction comprises a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure comprising a plurality of substantially continuous layers of predefined size, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component assume an in-situ structured arrangement developed progressively within said chaotic mixer according to a pre-established controllable evolutionary and at least partially reversible process, such that at a preliminary stage of said chaotic mixing, said in-situ structured arrangement comprises a plurality of substantially continuous layers of said major phase and said at least one minor phase disposed in substantially layered relation to one another and wherein upon further chaotic mixing said substantially continuous layers increase in number and undergo progressive thinning to a vanishingly thin level approaching the molecular thickness of the material forming said layers and thereafter undergo subsequent morphological transition away from substantially continuous layers and towards structures selected from the group consisting of layers with holes therein, platelets, interpenetrating blends, fibers, droplet dispersions and combinations thereof;
• and
• controlling the chaotic mixing step such that said in-situ structured arrangement comprises a plurality of extended substantially discrete layers of predetermined size and shape of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid construction having said predefined morphological structure.

A method for the manufacture of a multiple phase composite construction having a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure comprising a plurality of substantially discrete layers with holes of predetermined size extending through one or more of said substantially discrete layers, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component form an in-situ structured arrangement of structured morphology developed progressively within said chaotic mixer according to a pre-established controllable evolutionary process such that at a preliminary stage of said chaotic mixing, said in-situ structured arrangement comprises a plurality of substantially continuous layers of said major phase and said at least one minor phase disposed in substantially layered relation to one another and wherein upon further chaotic mixing said substantially continuous layers undergo progressive thinning and subsequent morphological transition towards layers with holes of increasing dimension;
• and
• controlling the chaotically mixing step such that the chaotic mixing is terminated at a controlled stage following formation of said substantially continuous layers and during morphological transition away from said substantially continuous layers such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component comprise a plurality of substantially discrete extended layers of predetermined size and shape of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component wherein at least a portion of said substantially discrete extended layers includes a plurality of holes of predetermined size;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid construction having said predefined morphological structure.

A method for the manufacture of a multiple phase composite construction having a major phase component and at least one minor phase component wherein said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component are in interpenetrating blended relation with one another, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component form an in-situ structured arrangement comprising an interpenetrating blend of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component;
• controlling the chaotic mixing step such that the chaotic mixing is terminated at a controlled stage of interpenetration of said major phase and said at least one minor phase;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said in-situ structured extrudate into a substantially solid multiple phase construction wherein said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component are arranged in interpenetrating blended relation.

A method for the manufacture of a multiple phase composite construction having a first phase polymeric component and a second phase polymeric component wherein said first and second phase polymeric components are in interpenetrating blended relation with one another, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said first phase polymeric component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said second phase polymeric component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said first phase polymeric component with said second phase polymeric component within said chaotic mixer to yield an in-situ structured arrangement comprising an interpenetrating blend of said major phase component and said minor phase component;
• controlling the chaotic mixing step such that the chaotic mixing is terminated at a controlled stage of interpenetration of said first phase polymeric component and said second phase polymeric component;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid multiple phase construction wherein said first phase polymeric component and said second phase polymeric component are disposed in interpenetrating blended relation wherein said first phase polymeric component and said second phase se polymeric are present at levels within said interpenetrating blend such that;
• 2 V a V b ⁢ μ b μ a
• may not substantially equal 1 wherein,
• Va is the volume percentage of said first phase polymeric component;
• Vb is the volume percentage of said second phase polymeric component;
• μa is the viscosity of said first phase polymeric component during the chaotically mixing step;
• and
• μb is the viscosity of said second phase polymeric component during the chaotically mixing step.

A method for the manufacture of a multiple phase composite construction having a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure comprising a plurality of substantially discrete platelets, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component form an in-situ structured arrangement formed progressively according to a preestablished and controllable evolutionary process, wherein said structured arrangement comprises a plurality of substantially discrete platelets of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component;
• controlling the chaotically mixing step such that the chaotic mixing is terminated at a controlled stage following formation of said substantially discrete platelets;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid structure having said predefined morphological structure.

A method for the manufacture of a fibrous construction having a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure comprising a plurality of fiber elements, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixerin a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component assume an in-situ structured arrangement comprising a plurality of elongate fiber-like phase structures of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component;
• controlling the chaotic mixing step such that the chaotic mixing is terminated at a controlled stage following formation of said elongate fiber-like phase structures;
• and
• discharging said structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate including said elongate fiber-like phase structures.

A method for the manufacture of a multi-phase construction having a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure wherein at least one of the group consisting of said major phase component and said at least one minor phase components is present in the form of a plurality of disperse droplets, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component assume an in-situ structured arrangement comprising a plurality of disperse droplets of said at least one minor phase component;
• controlling the chaotic mixing step such that the chaotic mixing is terminated at a controlled stage following formation of said disperse droplets;
• discharging said in-situ structured arrangement from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate including a plurality of disperse droplets of said at least one minor phase component;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid multiple phase construction.

A method for the production of a multiple phase composite material, wherein the composite material comprises a major phase component and at least one minor phase component arranged in a desired predefined morphological structure in which said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component have predefined substantially controllable size and shape characteristics, the method comprising the steps of:

• supplying said major phase component to a chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• supplying said at least one minor phase component to said chaotic mixer in a substantially controlled manner;
• chaotically mixing said major phase component with said at least one minor phase component within said chaotic mixer while the supplying steps are ongoing such that said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component assume phase structures of substantially extended dimension developed substantially progressively within said chaotic mixer according to a pre-established controllable evolutionary process, wherein said phase structures have morphologies selected from the group consisting of multi-layered films having a substantially extensive length dimension, multi-layered films having a substantially extensive length dimension wherein at least a portion of the layers include holes of controllable size, platelets of substantially extensive length dimension, fibers of substantially extensive length dimension and combinations thereof;
• controlling the chaotically mixing step and the supplying steps to yield predefined size and shape characteristics of said phase structures;
• discharging said major phase component and said at least one minor phase component from said chaotic mixer in the form of a structured extrudate wherein said phase structures are present in a substantially uniform repeating arrangement extending substantially throughout said structured extrudate;
• and
• controllably forming said structured extrudate into a substantially solid construction having said predefined morphological structure.

A multiple phase polymeric composite comprising a first phase polymeric constituent and a second phase polymeric constituent disposed in interpenetrating blended relation with one another such that the first phase polymeric constituent and the second phase polymeric constituent are substantially continuous throughout the composite and wherein;

• 6 V a V b ⁢ μ b μ a
• may not substantially equal 1 where,
• Va is the volume percentage of said first phase polymeric constituent;
• Vb is the volume percentage of said second phase polymeric constituent;
• μa is the viscosity of said first phase polymeric constituent;
• and
• μb is the viscosity of said second phase polymeric constituent.