The main goal of the LORCENIS project is to develop long reinforced concrete for energy infrastructures with lifetime extended up to a 100% under extreme operating conditions. The concept is based on an optimal combination of novel technologies involving customized methodologies for cost-efficient operation. 4 scenarios of severe operating conditions are considered: 1. Concrete infrastructure in deep sea, arctic and subarctic zones: Offshore windmills, gravity based structures, bridge piles and harbours 2. Concrete and mortar under mechanical fatigue in offshore windmills and sea structures 3. Concrete structures in concentrated solar power plants exposed to high temperature thermal fatigue 4. Concrete cooling towers subjected to acid attack The goal will be realized through the development of multifunctional strategies integrated in concrete formulations and advanced stable bulk concretes from optimized binder technologies. A multi-scale show case will be realized towards service-life prediction of reinforced concretes in extreme environments to link several model approaches and launch innovation for new software tools. The durability of sustainable advanced reinforced concrete structures developed will be proven and validated within LORCENIS under severe operating conditions based on the TRL scale, starting from a proof of concept (TRL 3) to technology validation (TRL 5). LORCENIS is a well-balanced consortium of multidisciplinary experts from 9 universities and research institutes and 7 industries whose 2 are SMEs from 8 countries who will contribute to training by exchange of personnel and joint actions with other European projects and increase the competitiveness and sustainability of European industry by bringing innovative materials and new methods closer to the marked and permitting the establishment of energy infrastructures in areas with harsh climate and environmental conditions at acceptable costs.

The main objective of the proposal is the development of multi-purpose, multi-functional surfaces via environmentally friendly plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) treatments. In an intelligent way the weakness of the PEO process (the inherent porosity due to the discharges forming the coating is often responsible for poor properties) is used to functionalize the coating using the open pore structure as a reservoir for nanocontainer or to bring particles with certain functionalities deep into the coatings (fast pathways). The main targeted functionalities, are enhanced fault tolerance and active protection against corrosive damage as well as improved tribological behavior. Moreover, to extend this typical field of applications of PEO treatments and address additional industries and aspects (e.g. 3C, ecological), a set of less common functionalities, such as photocatalytic, magnetic, thermo- and electroconductivity will be added. This is challenging and goes far beyond the state-of-the-art introduction via post-treatments. To deal with such sensitive materials, changes in the power supply are required and this is addressed as one of the key points in frame of the project as well. The essential key of the project is the formation and development of an interdisciplinary R&D partnership, where participants from both academia (5) and private sector (4 SME) participate, promoting and sharing their ideas, expertise, techniques and methods to solve this demanding challenge. This partnership will be beneficial for all participants, since new PEO hardware, environmentally friendly processes and applications important for industry are developed, evaluated and promoted by the research institutions via presentations and publications of the obtained results. Laboratory based training and intersectional transfer of knowledge are the key aspects of the FUNCOAT project, so the partnership gathers the topmost competences to carry out the suggested research program.

Smallmatek (SMT) has been a pioneer in the development of nanotechnologies to avoid metals corrosion and in providing consultancy services on the area of environmental monitoring. Our strong know-how leads us to create and invest in a revolutionary solution to avoid metals corrosion: the ADDPRIME. Corrosion results from a negative interaction between metallic materials and the surrounding environment. Costs related with corrosion constitutes 3% of the annually GDP of industrialized countries. Only in Europe, €701billion are spent per year to solve corrosion related problems. The most widely used solutions to protect metallic structures combine high-toxic corrosion inhibitors with coatings. However, both components suffer a negative interaction between them, resulting in a low anti-corrosive protection. Furthermore, current solutions allow for small savings of 15% of global costs of corrosion. We, at SMT, developed a new patent based-technology that increases in 6 times the metals corrosion resistance. ADDPRIME uses encapsulated corrosion inhibitors that are released by stimulus of specific triggers. Our technology has the capacity to entrapped corrosive environmental species. Moreover, our solution is based on a nanotechnology with up to 3 times less toxicity than the current solutions, resulting on a low environmental impact. By using ADDPRIME, coatings companies will have cost savings up to 27% in the production of anti-corrosive coatings. End users of our solution, such as maritime markets, will have up to 60% savings on maintenance costs. ADDPRIME technology will help Europe keeping the leadership in the production of ambitious anti-corrosive “smart” solutions. With the exploitation of ADDPRIME, we expect to create 37 new job positions and enter in new markets such construction, industrial, maritime and automobile, where metallic surfaces are exposed to extreme conditions, achieving a turnover of 21M€ by 2023.

The main objective of the proposal is development of active multi-functional surfaces with high level of self-healing ability on the basis of Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) structures formed on different industrially relevant metallic substrates. The main idea of the project is based on “smart” triggered release on demand for functional organic or inorganic anionic compounds intercalated into intergallery spaces of LDHs. The active functionality is achieved via controllable substrate-governed growth of LDH architectures on Al, Mg and Zn based alloys. The functional anions such as corrosion inhibitors, biocides, drugs, or hydrophobic agents are introduced into the intergallery spaces during the growth of LDH or upon a post-treatment stage. The release of the functional agents occurs only on demand when the respective functionality is triggered by the relevant external stimuli such as presence of anions or local pH change. The proposal focuses on two main applications, namely aeronautical and automotive. The active LDH treatments can bring significant benefits when applied in these situations. The respective relevant substrates are chosen as the main objects of interest: Mg alloys for both applications; Al alloys for both transportation industries as well; galvanized steel as a main material for automobiles. Moreover the suggested surface treatments, especially the one with active self-healing ability, are also considered for light-weight multi-material structures which are prone to fast galvanically-induced corrosion. The increase of the fault tolerance and reliability of hybrid designs is aimed in this case. The suggested surface treatments can offer possibility for fast implementation of the process at industrial level. The main expected impacts are related to the improvement of the life cycle of the light-weight structures utilized in transport industries via optimization of the maintenance schedules and increasing the fault tolerance.

The main objective of the project is development of new lead-free multiferroic materialshe for prospective application in forms of films and/or arranged layers in which the cross-coupling (magnetic-dipolar-elastic) can be tuned by both internal and external factors. This objective is to be achieved through preparation, investigation, and optimization of two kinds of Bi-containing oxygen-octahedral (BCOO) systems with paramagnetic ions involved: metastable perovskites and layered double hydroxides (LDHs). The characteristic feature of such materials is a possibility of supplementary control parameters in addition to temperature and external electric/magnetic field. Polarization in such metastable perovskites is easily switched by application of external pressure (or stress in the case of films). Electric and magnetic characteristics of BCOO LDHs are tuned through appropriate anion exchanges. It makes these characteristics dependent on environment conditions: humidity, pH, and presence of specific anion species. The BCOO materials of both mentioned groups are of interest as new and unusual multiferroics. No LDH materials have been considered as potential multiferroics so far, while the metastable BCOO materials proposed in this project have not been obtained before. Besides, a tuneability and high sensibility of their properties to external impacts make them promising for applications in sensors. Exploration and development of such materials require consolidation of specialists of complementary expertise in Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science, with access to and skills in using specific and unique equipment and facilities. Therefore, formation of an interdisciplinary network of teams with different scientific culture and ensuring the effective knowledge & expertise transfer is important objective of the project. Advance in development of the BCOO multiferroics has potential market opportunities for R&D SME involved in this project.