Safe- and sustainable-by-design metallic coatings and engineered surfaces (RIA) -

Expected Outcome

New metal coating systems, produced without, and free of, toxic substances (e.g. hexavalent Chromium), HREEs (heavy rare earth elements), LREEs (light rare earth elements), and PGMs (platinum group metals). A major challenge is the accumulation of metallic materials over the long term in the environment where they tend to have adverse reactions with the ecosystem. On the other hand, the coatings are needed for preservation of the products to prevent for instance corrosion and (bio)fouling. To ensure safety and sustainability of new metal coatings a systems approach that integrates safety, circularity and functionality of advanced materials throughout their lifecycle is required.

Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• At least 2 novel materials with improved (or at least comparable) efficiency as compared to traditional materials, associated with a reduction in metal usage of at least 15%;
• Materials modelling, assisted by advanced methods (e.g. physics-based methods, machine learning and artificial intelligence methods), integrated with safe- and sustainable-by-design models;
• Integration of eco-design and circularity concepts in the design of new metal coatings and provide recommendations for the end-of-life of the new material. This should include integration of REACH requirements in the eco-design development and pre-validation of indicators as well as tests to demonstrate the improved sustainability and reduced toxicity of both final product and production process;
• Innovative strategies for improving recovery, recyclability, purification and re-use products at the end of life. This could include the evaluation of their reusability in other application areas other than initial intended use, requiring lower purity inputs;
• An online or/and standalone decision support tool to guide industry (especially SME) for the implementation of safe- and sustainable-by-design approaches tailored to their needs;
• Integration into the standardisation process and development of a roadmap to achieve full standardisation (of e.g. methods, protocols);
• Contribute to the development of safe- and sustainable-by-design criteria and guiding principles and apply them to metallic coating and engineered surfaces.

Relevant indicators and metrics, with baseline values, should be clearly stated in the proposal.

Scope

Metal coatings are applied, to enhance performance characteristics, such as corrosion resistance, colour, attractive appearance, wear resistance, optical properties, electrical resistance, or thermal protection. Applications range from building & construction and consumer goods to catalytic materials, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and fuel cells and proposals covering all above areas will be welcome. The optimisation of functionality including sustainability and safety considerations and all aspects on resource utilisation across the materials life cycle is essential. Such materials with desired properties and the corresponding manufacturing processes should be designed with the assistance of in silico techniques.

Leveraging the extensive experience from relevant initiatives and aligning with other EU-funded projects targeting safe- and sustainable-by-design materials, in particular under CSA topic HORIZON-CL4-2021-RESILIENCE-01-08, is essential.

The proposals, activities and approaches should cover both - specific considerations for the metal coatings under study, as well as developing overarching best practices that spans broader sectors of safe- and sustainable-by-design materials. Proposals should involve all the actors in the value chain.

Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.

In line with the Union’s strategy for international cooperation in research and innovation, international cooperation is encouraged.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 3 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

International Cooperation

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