The Austrian organisation is the leading Austrian Center of Excellence for cooperative research in the area of polymer engineering and sciences. In close cooperation with its scientific partners, more than 110 highly qualified employees are active in a wide field of applications for plastics ranging from mobility and (micro)electronics to energy and construction industries.

The repair of consumer as well as technical goods is a major pillar for improving sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint of European industry. The institute is therefore setting up a funded research project, which is dedicated to new repair concepts for thermosets, elastomers and composites. The project will be divided into five sub-projects, which will be carried out with the participation of two or more company partners and at least one scientific partner (per sub-project). In a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach, repair concepts will be developed and studied along the value-chain of polymeric goods. This includes:
(i) the prediction of repair (digital twining including real-time monitoring and simulation of defects);
(ii) the prevention of repair (sensor and AI concepts combined with adaptable and active materials);
(iii) repair on a molecular level (switching on and off the repair performance in technically relevant thermosets including dynamic covalent bonds);
(iv) functional adhesives for de-bonding on demand (adhesives, which lose their bond strength upon an external trigger); and
(v) mechanical repair concepts (reversible, reliable and durable mechanic disassembling mechanisms).

Possible future applications include:
- consumer goods (e.g. household appliances);
- automotive parts (e.g. car headlights); or
- electronic devices, which are designed in such a way that they are easily repairable, disassembled and at their end of life also easily recyclable (convenient separation of different components and materials).

In addition, new adhesives are addressed, which enable a fast and residue-free de-bonding on demand, facilitating the repair, disassembling and recycling of bonded composites and devices. Along with a repair on a macroscopic level, concepts will also focus on a molecular repair, which is relevant for the thermally triggered healing of polymer-based composite structures (e.g. fiber reinforced polymer-based composites). These molecular repair strategies can also be easily exploited for a chemical and mechanical recycling of composite structures (e.g. rotor blades of wind turbines, parts used in automotive, aircraft or marine industry).

The project's results will provide new solutions for reducing the CO2 footprint and increasing the service life of polymeric goods. A new generation of consumer and technical goods will result, which will meet the demands of the EU green deal, will be easily repairable, can be disassembled on demand (also for recycling strategies) and offer a way to conserve energy and raw materials.

The project consortium is currently being built; national and international company partners (SMEs and large companies), positioned along the value chain of polymeric goods for various industrial segments (e.g. transportation, energy, electronics, consumer goods, construction industry) are sought.

The project will be submitted for funding within the COMET Module Call of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), which is an open call for “research far beyond state of the art”. The project volume will be €4m over a duration of 4 years and in the case of a positive evaluation, the project will start in April 2024. The majority of the research work will be carried out at the Austrian institute and 80% of the project costs will be funded. The same funding rate will be applicable for SMEs and large companies as well as for national and international partners. The call deadline is on April 25th 2023 and the deadline for expressions of interest from the respective partners until March 1st.
Advantages and innovation
- new solutions: a new generation of consumer and technical goods
- reduce the CO2 footprint
- increase the service life of polymeric goods
- meet the demands of the EU green deal
- easily repairable goods which can be disassembled on demand
- easier recycling
- conserve energy and raw materials.
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought
National and international company partners (SMEs and large companies), positioned along the value chain of polymeric goods for various industrial segments (e.g. transportation, energy, electronics, consumer goods, construction industry).
Industrial partners should mainly bring in their expertise on specifications and existing regulations for their selected use cases when it comes to materials, processes, components and architectures, which is crucial for successfully transferring the targeted concepts to future products and production routines.

Framework program
International cooperation
Call title and identifier
COMET Module 2022
Submission and evaluation scheme
Anticipated project budget
Coordinator required
No
Deadline for EoI
28/02/2023
Deadline of the call
24/04/2023
Project duration in weeks
208
Web link to the call
https://www.ffg.at/en/comet-compentence-centres-excellent-technologies-comet-modul