Surface Engineering

The STELLAR project is making progress in the development of new solutions to reduce drag and fuel consumption in aircraft.

 

Aircraft are not alone in the skies, meaning they face natural obstacles to which they must adapt. As aircraft become faster and more developed, the Aeronautics industry is faced with the problem of an increase in obstacles that magnify the drag coefficient: we are talking about insects. The accumulation of insects on aircraft wings has a negative effect on air distribution, altering laminar flow, with a resulting direct impact on fuel consumption.

For months, the STELLAR project has been working to develop cleaning solutions and new efficient and durable anti-contamination coatings based on a thorough understanding of the properties of insect residues and their interaction with surfaces.

CIDETEC Surface Engineering, a partner of the project coordinated by the Belgian centre Materia Nova, is developing low-adhesion solutions to mitigate insect contamination of the aircraft fuselage. The accumulation of insect debris on the leading edge of the wing surface is related to insect haemolymph, so CIDETEC is working on anti-contamination coatings based on omniphobic solutions providing high haemolymph-repellent properties.

At the halfway point of the three-year project, CIDETEC Surface Engineering has several strategies open based on surface modification by polymer anchoring, functionalised nanoparticles in a polymer matrix and ionogel technology. Thanks to their low surface free energy and excellent slip capacity, these omniphobic coatings lead to low-adhesion surfaces resistant to insect haemolymph contamination.

The project, part of the CleanSky 2 programme to reduce CO2 emissions and aircraft noise levels, has a budget of almost € 2 million and is expected to be completed in October 2023.

For three years, multifunctional TEG-enabled structural composite materials have been developed for the Aeronautics sector.

 

The HARVEST project, which, for the last three years, has been working on the development of new materials for thermoelectric systems in the Aeronautics sector, held its last meeting on 29 September, in which the latest progress was presented along with the steps to be taken for the completion of the project in November.

During the meeting, the partners responsible for work packages 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, together with those responsible for each task, demonstrated and presented in detail the results obtained and the conclusions reached.

IVW, with the collaboration of UOI and CIDETEC Surface Engineering, presented the work developed in WP5 in relation to efficiency in thermoelectric energy generation (TEG), mechanical properties, multifunctionality, durability and repairability of the materials developed in the project, with CIDETEC’s 3R technology (repairable, recyclable and reprocessable).

For its part, AIRTIFICIAL, alongside TELETEL S.A. and IVW, shared the technical progress made in the development of an electronic circuit and the interconnections with the TEG board. The experts indicated that the experimentation with TEG elements and energy harvesting electronics has been a success.

In WP 7, “Aeronautics Demonstrators: Validation & Optimisation”, led by Sonaca, progress was presented on demonstrator design, durability and validation of parts in different simulated environmental conditions. BT Composites and UOI presented the results and shared the findings in detail. Within this package, R-Tech also described the status of the LCA and LCC studies.

CIDETEC Surface Engineering presented WP8, summarising the latest activities in communication, dissemination and exploitation of the project results. We must mention the collaboration of the whole consortium in achieving the positive results, especially the University of Ioannina, Università degli Studi di Padova and R-Tech.

Finally, R-Tech explained the study developed around the project’s risk management, and the UOI project coordinator then closed the meeting with a review of tasks pending to complete the project in November 2021.

HARVEST has been a professional challenge for the entire consortium, which is undoubtedly being overcome thanks to the collaboration, professionalism and hard work. The results of the work carried out will soon be available.