The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, located in Kaiserslautern, is active as one of twelve partners from seven countries in the EU research project VIPCOAT. The objective is to make the development and production of technologies for corrosion protection more sustainable, more cost-effective, and faster.
Corrosion, i.e. the electro-chemical reaction of base metals with oxygen or other environmental components, causes damage to the material. To prevent corrosion processes, the aircraft and automotive industries used chromates, for example, for many years. However, these are extremely toxic, environmentally hazardous and carcinogenic. For this reason, the use of chromates in automotive and aircraft construction was banned by European law. Since then, industry and research have been searching for chromate-free substitutes.
This is precisely where VIPCOAT (Virtual Open Innovation Platform for Active Protective Coatings Guided by Modelling and Optimization) comes in: With the help of modeling and an innovation platform, the development of environmentally friendly alternatives is being driven forward. »Our aim is to create an open innovation platform that can be used by the research, industrial, political and public sectors alike«, explains Dr. Natalia Konchakova, project coordinator and scientist at the Hereon’s Institute of Surface Science.
Together with researchers from Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, the Helmholtz Center Hereon has initiated the project. The two German research institutions involved, Hereon and Fraunhofer ITWM, will expand their expertise in the field of protective coatings with corrosion inhibitors and anti-corrosion pigments, respectively, and create models for material development and optimization within the framework of VIPCOAT. Here the focus lies in sustainable infrastructures for offshore wind energy turbines and green marine energy technologies. This is how VIPCOAT results should directly support the aims of the European Green Deal.
»Subsequently, the platform will also be applicable to other industrial sectors, such as the automotive and maritime sectors, energy production infrastructures and to medical technology and civil engineering«, says Dr. Peter Klein, scientist at Fraunhofer ITWM. The open innovation approach should thereby contribute to a decisive competitive advantage for the sectors and strengthen the technology transfer.
The European Union is funding VIPCOAT with around 5.5 million euros for four years as part of the Horizon 2020 program. The start date is May 1, 2021.
The consortium of the project consists of the following partners: Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (project management), Airbus Operations GmbH, Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Akzo Nobel Car Refinishes BV, ELYSCA NV, Wkki Limited, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, Smallmatek – Small Materials and Technologies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, SINTEF, Vrije Universiteit Brussels and Delft University of Technology.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM