VIPCOAT platform launched to make coating industry innovative, sustainable and green
VUB researchers to develop 3D modelling tool as part of major EU project
Coatings or protective layers can be found everywhere. Just think of coatings to make materials such as concrete, steel and wood fire-resistant, to give aircraft, cars and other metal objects a longer life, to make work surfaces easier to clean or to make surfaces less slippery. The search for newer, better coatings is a long and expensive process and the coatings industry is not the greenest or most sustainable of industries.
Open access for all sectors
The EU project VIPCOAT aims to change this. It will be an open innovation platform for engineers developing materials for coatings and will initially focus on the aerospace industry. In the future, it will be part of the European Materials Modelling Ontology, enabling a transfer to other industries. The intention is that the platform can then be consulted by various actors such as research, political or public sectors. It will serve as a database for experimental, industry-relevant and modelling data, as scientific infrastructure and as a simulation tool. Artificial intelligence and physics-based modelling are combined to optimise the production of industry-relevant corrosion-protective coatings.
Transition to green and sustainable coatings
The VIPCOAT platform is committed to sustainability and actively seeks to reduce energy consumption, production steps and the use of fossil fuels. With advanced modelling, as developed by VUB and Elsyca, VIPCOAT aims to stimulate the transition to green, cheap and efficient coatings that prevent corrosion. Terryn: “With this philosophy, the platform aims to guarantee an effective transfer between science and social applications. So VIPCOAT has been developed not only to assist the industry in accelerating the development of innovative corrosion protection technologies and make them economically interesting, but also, and especially, to make this branch of industry more sustainable and greener.”
Contact
Professor Herman Terryn
0478 88 17 05
Contact us
https://www.vipcoat.eu