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Cold Spray Radical Solutions for Aeronautic Improved Repairs (CORSAIR)

Final Report Summary - CORSAIR (Cold Spray Radical Solutions for Aeronautic Improved Repairs (CORSAIR))

Executive Summary:
-CORSAIR is a research project aimed at investigating the capabilities of Cold Spray Technology for maintenance and repair of aeronautic frames and components and at developing new devices for possible industrial application of this coating techniques and at widening the materials and the parts to be repaired this way. In fact deep and systematic investigation in Cold Spray is required, so far, to better understand the capabilities and fully validate the technology in aeronautics while cold spray application is limited by a poor knowledge of the relations between the process parameters and the quality of the coating and technological requirements to meet the acceptable quality standards .

In this scenario, the activities and the goals of the CORSAIR project are:

(1) Explore the real capabilities of Cold Spray in several practical examples of aeronautic repair applications. In this context real components to be repaired will be selected by aeronautic companies and cold spray repair protocols defined during the project. A condensed list of the parts and repairs considered during the project includes the repairs of new parts: castings and machined parts exhibiting different kind of defects; and the restoration of serviced parts and components. The base and deposition materials are Light Alloys such as Al, Ti and Mg alloys. Homogeneous Repair (repair where the deposited material is the same of the base material) and Heterogeneous Repair (repair where the deposited material is different with respect to the base material) will be considered.
(2) Develop numerical models able to simulate both the fluid dynamics of the process and the mechanics of the impact and the conditions of adhesion, this providing a valuable tool for addressing the optimal choice of the cold-spray parameters with respect of the application of interest..
(2) Deep investigate the coating and repair properties and characteristics (mechanical, microstructural, thermal and chemical properties) in order to finely tune the process parameters and define where Cold Spray could be further applied for maintenance and repair in aeronautics.
(3) Deepen the characteristics of feedstock materials required for deposition and their effects on the properties of the coated parts.
(4) Give the required reliability and repeatability to the coating deposition and repair process to validate the technology for aeronautic industry.
(5) Overcome the actual technological limitations of line-in-sight Cold Spray deposition process developing new nozzles for out-of-view surfaces.
(6) Develop a New Industrial Portable Cold Spray Unit to extend the capabilities of in situ maintenance and repair applications.

The activities are organized in 9 workpackages plus management and the results will be included in 45 expected deliverables.

The CORSAIR Consortium is a balanced mix of well-reputed universities, research centres as well as SMEs and aeronautic industrial partners. In particular, the main role of each partner is listed below: Politecnico di Milano, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Metalogic and the Ukrainian National Aerospace University are in charge of the characterization of materials and the numerical analysis aimed at the process simulation and computational fluid-dynamics, Veneto Nanotech and TWI develop the cold spray application to materials and selected parts, Impact will take care of the plant manufacture, LPW selects and provides the suitable feedstock material, EADS, Airbus Military and GE Avio are aeronautic companies and, together with Iberia, one of the most important European Airline, provide the applications of interest together with a constant industrial view on the project development while EASN leads the dissemination and exploitation of the project.

The duration of the project is 42 months, the Project Coordinator is Politecnico di Milano.

Project Context and Objectives:
-The principal goals of CORSAIR are transverse and address mainly - but not solely - the aeronautical, design manufacturing and service:

• to develop a new technological process to be used in aero systems maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO);
• to enhance the quality of aero systems (both engine, frame and actuators) and increase the life span of aeronautical components;
• to cut costs of aero systems maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) by reducing the waste at the production site of aeronautical industries.
• To reduce costs and time efficiency in MRO at the airport by developing new and high-performances in-situ repair capabilities.
• To provide the wide use of a green technology for high-performances MRO purposes in aeronautical.

These goals will be achieved by thoroughly investigating the coating and repair characteristics (mechanical, microstructural, thermal and chemical properties) in order to fine-tune and define when and where Cold Spray could be applied for maintenance and repair in the aerospace industry, by thoroughly investigating the effect and the characteristics of feedstock materials required for deposition and to define the optimized characteristics for the supply, thus giving the required reliability to the coating deposition and repair processes to allow a full validation of the technology for aeronautical industry. This is propedeutic for the main technological expected results, that are to surpass the actual technological limitations of line-in-sight Cold Spray deposition process developing new nozzles for out-of-view surfaces and to develop a New Industrial Portable Cold Spray Unit to extend the capabilities of in situ maintenance and repair applications

The primary drivers for CORSAIR relate to safety, economic as well as societal issues. The application of the proposed process intends (Cold Spray deposition both at the production site and at the airport by using a new portable unit) improve reliability during operation and minimise the time the aircraft needs to spend on the ground for inspection. This will permit increased aircraft availability and lower maintenance costs to be incurred by the operating company. The definition of guidelines and standards for the application of the process will result in increased reliability that will lead to a reduction in accidents, loss of life and associated compensation costs resulting from failure of critical aircraft structural components. Further financial gains are expected through extension of the reliable operational lifetime of specific structural components that can be achieved thanks to the new coating resulting from CORSAIR.
Thus, in market/economical terms, CORSAIR will directly target the drastic reduction of costs associated with Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO). Obviously, by achieving the direct goals, i.e. by building the required technology, the cost-efficient processes and methods supporting it, the new coatings developed by CORSAIR will directly improve overall safety of aircraft and operation and will thus help to decrease fatalities and injuries with a strong impact in the European Socio-Economic scenario. On the other hand, the technologies and tools that will result from this project are essential to increase the European market from the current level in the next 10 years, and they will provide opportunities for the employment of highly skilled professionals.

Summarizing, a successful CORSAIR project will ensure a strong strategic impact and will have clear Socio-Economic benefits within the next five to ten years by contributing to:
• Enhance European aeronautical industry competitiveness by a positive impact in MRO;
• Strengthen European Leadership position in an strongly emergent technology as Cold Spray and powder metallurgy;
• Enhance European employment;
• Meet societal needs for more environmental-friendly, safer and efficient air transport;
• Meet societal needs for more environmental-friendly, safer and efficient manufacturing.

Project Results:
All involved partners were greatly influenced by their participation in the CORSAIR project, which allowed the realization of new research, the employment of new and current personnel, the exploration of new markets and collaboration opportunities, the development of academic thesis and new academic material, and more. In what follows, the exploitable outcomes and scenarios as regarded by each partner are discussed.

-Large Industrial Partners
One very importance aspect for the birth of the CORSAIR project was the industrial need which currently exists for more cost and time efficient MRO techniques. Indeed, CORSAIR was able to provide reliable alternatives allowing in-situ repairs, which translates to significant cost reduction. The project results were viewed rather positively by the industrial partners and their clients, and this surely justifies both the objectives of CORSAIR, as well as quality of the work realized. Throughout the project, the industrial partners had the opportunity to assess the new repairing techniques against their standards and requirements, and all remained positive with the final results with regards to the economic efficiency, the mechanical properties and the validity of the final, repaired samples. It is worth noting that the adaptation of CORSAIR results by the industry will have a significant impact on raw materials and the environment. The modern repair technology Cold Gas Spraying is free of any toxic materials and fully benign as a “green technology”, as no hazardous media are involved. Three major manufacturers and one Airline Company are involved in the consortium, representing the industrial requirements and challenges. Below are presented the exploitable outcomes and impact at the aircraft manufacturers.

GE AVIO
The very good technical results obtained in the project have been used to support the AvioAero internal decision to invest in new cold spray equipment, that has now been installed in a new Repair Development Centre inside the Polytechnic of Bari premises. The activities related to the use of the Cold spray repair technology will involve several researcher and specialists, leaded by AvioAero people, for the development and industrialization of new repair technologies for the next years. The introduction of the cold spray technology for the repair of aluminum aero engine components is directly related to the possibility of re-use parts that actually have to be scrapped, with consequent avoidance of waste materials and reduction of resources (materials and energy) for the manufacturing of the replacement new parts, thus resulting to time and cost efficiency for AvioAero, as well as holding significant societal and environmental impact.

AIRBUS Group
MRO (maintenance repair and overhaul) is applied to air vehicles on a regularly defined time span to assure air worthiness and safety issues. In this case, the defined aircraft demonstrator which was introduced by Airbus Group to the CORSAIR project as an industrial case, belongs to an old family of military transporters that are still in use worldwide for various missions. Due to the aircraft age exceeding 45 years, the supply chain with spare parts becomes increasingly difficult and is in some fields interrupted and no longer existing, thus resulting to a lack of spare parts. Newly developed spare parts are incredible high in price, due to the small lot size. In contrast, the developed repair method and its investigation can lead to a sustainable solution where raw materials and working hours for production of new spare parts can be decreased considerably.
They expect an increase in employment or at least a safeguarding effect on the current employment number, as they were are able to show that with the achieved CORSAIR program results for an in-house repair are economically worthwhile. A business case will be calculated internally at Airbus Defence & Space comparing the current state of the art MRO technology with the newly developed cold spray repair technology. Moreover it is expected that the positive results will stimulate other areas in the divisions that are also confronted with MRO tasks. Like every new technology this will need some response time, but this is quite normal in industry.
Our Airbus Group partners believe that CORSAIR has managed to prove the sustainability of cold spray MRO techniques and it is important that more industrial partners learn about how this technology can be applied successfully, therefore having a positive impact in the aircraft industry but also in other branches. Airbus Group Innovations (AGI) was already contacted during runtime of the project by the Airbus divisions Airbus Helicopters and Airbus Operations. Both divisions confronted AGI with current MRO scenarios where help and support was asked for. Some technical discussions shared positive feedback and serious interest in the project results. A transfer of the repair technology into the Airbus divisions is favored.

AIRBUS MILITARY
AIRBUS Military had been discussing on a periodic basis the latest CORSAIR findings internally, and lately to MRO engineers from the Eurofighter Program in Getafe (Madrid) who considered it very interesting. It is their intention to discuss CORSAIR results with MRO engineers from other aircraft programs, and to contact the departments who could investigate further into the adaptation of this technology, through technologic sessions explaining the project to the people in charge.

-Small-Medium Enterprises
CORSAIR also involves the participation of SMEs. All the SME partners operate in different areas and they are all involved in high-tech clusters for materials innovation and dissemination. Great experience in niche market and product customization is available at SMEs and in this sense the exploitation activities within CORSAIR aim to strengthen the knowledge and market opportunities of the involved partners in their related business fields.

METALOGIC
METALogic, an SME working on material characterization, was given a major opportunity to open a new field of application for their expertise. At this moment, typical METALogic customers are from (petro) chemical and pharmaceutical industries, while the knowledge acquired within the project, favors the extension of the existing market towards possible new (aerospace) customers. METALogic initially hoped to hire one fulltime equivalent on the project, which however was not necessary in the end. However, the amount of work to be done in the Corsair project contributed to safeguarding the company’s current employment.

IMPACT INNOVATIONS
Cold Spray Technology is gaining increasing interest in different industrial fields, including but not limited to aeronautics. IMPACT was focused on the development of the Portable Cold Spray Unit and the realization of repairs using this equipment. IMPACT was able to further optimize its existing processes, tools and designs in order to gain competitive advantages in its respective market. Furthermore, their employment was increased by 50% (from 10 to 15 people) during the CORSAIR project duration.

EASN-TIS
EASN-TIS was involved as a Dissemination Amplifier, being responsible for the effective dissemination strategy and outcomes of the project. The company is heavily involved in EU-funded research projects, offering services with regards to management, dissemination, exploitation and communication. As the majority of their clients come from the aeronautics community, similar participations with regards to aeronautical research were realized in the past, in various different areas, covering various different research fields (e.g. design and modelling, NDT, manufacturing, safety on board, etc.). As the aeronautics community largely supports the research of composite materials, following the respectively big industrial demand, CORSAIR constituted one of little participation of EASN-TIS in alloy-driven research, which enhances and further expands the company’s networking and communication abilities with regards to targeting the specific market.

-Research Organizations

TWI
The CORSAIR project has had a significant impact on the TWI activities in Materials Technology and Surface Engineering. CORSAIR laid the foundations for developing new engineering solutions for members in the aerospace industry. During CORSAIR, TWI has developed essential expertise to develop robust Ti and Al alloy coatings by means of Cold Spray deposition. A large number of process parameters and powder characteristics have been investigated to identify the process window to obtain high density and well adhered coatings, suitable for repairs of high value aerospace components. CORSAIR activities have been highlighted during TWI’s latest Aerospace Panel Meeting (March 2016), where a significant number of aerospace companies were present. The CORSAIR project has enabled TWI to establish itself as a world-leading centre for industrially-led cold spray research. The project outcomes justified a large capital investment (£500,000) in a state-of-the-art cold spray facility to consolidate TWI’s position at the forefront of this technology area in Europe.
This has led to increased research spending by TWI’s member companies and safeguarded employment within the surface engineering team. Increasing income from the aerospace sector as a result of the CORSAIR project has ensured TWI’s surface engineering team have a diverse research portfolio, critical to long term employment stability, when external business conditions resulting from low oil and gas prices result in decreased R&D spend form other industry sectors. An internally funded research project has been awarded to further investigate aspects of Ti and Al alloy repairs by means of Cold Spray. This research project is worth ~£200,000 and employs two PhD students and several engineers for a 4 year period (2010-2016). Apart from this work, many additional research challenges have been identified for future investigations.
It is further worth nothing that developments within the CORSAIR project have resulted in high quality coatings using nitrogen as the propellant gas, where previously helium would have need to be used. Helium is a scarce natural resource, whereas nitrogen is abundant and can be generated far more cheaply and energy efficiently.

-Academic Institutions
CORSAIR has contributed to the development of new knowledge and research lines which were explored by and distributed to the academic community through the involvement of three academic institutions. In addition to the list of publications generated within the project lifetime, their involvement to the CORSAIR project has enabled the training of future engineers on latest trends, real-life scenarios and industrial requirements.

POLIMI
The role of POLIMI in CORSAIR was mainly devoted to the development of numerical models simulating the process and the dynamic of the impact of the powder against the target material and to the mechanical characterization of the cold spray coating of interest for the project (Al and Ti alloys). As regards the simulations, the aim of these models is to get the relation between the process parameters and the coating properties, thus enabling the definition of the optimal set of parameters to be sued in relation with the set of materials of interest. This is an important step toward the improvement of the cold spray plants the effective industrial application of Cold Spray as repairing technique since it make possible to optimize the energy request of the process and then to reduce environmental impact of the aeronautic repair. As regards to the mechanical characterization, it is a fundamental step to extend the application of cold spray from geometric restoring to structural part, able to carry heavy load without any penalty with respect of the base material and the virgin, undamaged, part. In particular, the study realized on the fatigue behavior of cold sprayed repaired parts opens new fields for cold spray as repairing technique and extend its practical use to new application, thus reducing the overall environmental impact of the MRO in aeronautics with respect of the processes utilized today.
Thanks to their participation in CORSAIR, POLIMI was able to fully fund own researcher position (duration 3 years) plus partially fund (50%) another researcher position (3 years long), with possibility to prolong the duration and finally get a permanent staff position. In addition, CORSAIR allowed funding the 1 year extension of one “Politecnico International Fellowship” position that is a post-doc position for a foreign PhD student (2 years long). On the base of these latter achievements, they were able to enlarge their research group and to extend the expertise of the group. The number of publications on highly-impact journals has also increased considerably. Furthermore, a series of Phd and MSc theses were developed related to CORSAIR, as these are listed below:
PhD Thesis
• A. Moridi “Cold Spray Coating: Process Evaluation and Wealth of Applications; from Structural Repair to Bioengineering”, 2015.
• K. Petrackova “Damage characterization and modelling of cold sprayed coatings”, to be discussed in 2017
MSc theses
• M.V. Zuccoli “Cold Spray Aeronautic maintenance and repair”, to be discussed on 21/12/2016
• G. Roscioli «Cold spray: from coating to additive manufacturing», 28/07/2016
• L. Canclini «Caratterizzazione di rivestimenti metallici ottenuti mediante cold spray», 28/07/2016
• M.D. Cirigliano «Caratterizzazione di rivestimenti cold spray per componenti aeronautici», 18/12/2015
• Di Maulo, «Fluid Dynamics and cavities filling simulation of cold spray coating process», 28/07/2015
Finally, in collaboration with NAU-KHAI, POLIMI is planning on the commercial exploitation of their software for assessing the optimal cold-spray parameters. This new software will facilitate the selection of the process parameters and will minimize the experiments required to this aim, thus contributing to time and cost efficiency in the industry. It is planned to make the software available to industrial partners after 2016, while a patent will be submitted at the European Patent Office. Furthermore, a series of conference presentations and publications is expected to take place during 2017.

NAU KHAI
NAU KHAI has developed a series of actions throughout the CORSAIR lifetime which respond to real-life scenarios and validate the project’s sustainability, such as and including:
• Development and approbation of technological processes of gas-thermal spraying
• Development of special portable equipment for gas-thermal spraying technologies
• Modernization of commercially available equipment for gas-thermal spraying technologies
• Development and production of supersonic nozzles for special applications
Additionally, as described above, the institution is working on the submission of a patent application for the commercial exploitation of simulation software, in collaboration with POLIMI.

URJC
The main research activity developed by URJC has been the development of Ti and Al based coatings, which could be used to repair aeronautic structures. URJC has tested the materials developed by VN, TWI and IMPACT. The degradation of these materials by wear has been compared to the behaviour of the bulk materials, already used in aeronautical components. Some of the materials developed, like the TI64 coating, exhibited wear resistance similar or higher than the bulk material indicating the viability of repairing using this technology. In this sense, the impact to society and environment as those presented in the proposal as CORSAIR project has succeed in this case.
During the development of COSAIR, five persons were employed as full-time, and four persons were employed as part-time. These nine people have been working on the activities assigned to the URJC within CORSAIR. The following theses were based on the activities, research and outcomes of URJC within CORSAIR:

• Tribological characterization of Cold-sprayed Ti-base alloy coatings for aeronautic industry - BSc
• Tribological study of Cold-sprayed A357 aluminum alloy coatings with aeronautic applications - BSc
• Tribological characterization of coatings used in industry – BSc
• Damage characterization and modelling of cold sprayed coatings - PhD

Two more persons have collaborated with CORSAIR, and the findings achieved contributed to the completion of their PhD theses, which were presented within the past two years (in respect to when this report is written).
Finally, two people involved with CORSAIR were able to get a position in the URJC after 7 months in one case and 1 year and half in the other. Their employment was made possible by URJC’s participation in the CORSAIR project. This is a very important outcome, as these persons were already trained within the activities of CORSAIR and therefore can now greatly contribute to other projects within the university.
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STATEMENT ON THE USE OF RESOURCES, IN PARTICULAR HIGHLIGHTING AND EXPLAINING DEVIATIONS BETWEEN ACTUAL AND PLANNED PERSON-MONTHS PER WORK PACKAGE AND PER BENEFICIARY IN ANNEX 1 (DESCRIPTION OF WORK).

In Table 1 the global effort in terms of PM of the project is shown for each partner. Both the global effort and the effort of the two single periods as well as the planned effort, the original one and the one revised in the Amendment n.2. In that Table it is also possible to note the deviation with respect of the original one.
The main deviations are registered by the partners VN, URJC, TWI, KHAI, and LPW while the other partners registers limited deviations with respect of the planned effort in terms of person months that can be justified by considering unexpected extra work that can emerge when dealing with research and innovative subjects, where not all the possible issues can be known and considered in advance.
As regards the deviation by VN (-45.55 person months with respect of the revised plan) this can be explained considering that this partner went to bankrupt after the beginning of the second reporting period and was excluded by further activities. It can be seen in Table 1 that while in the original work plan an adequate number of person month was assigned, after the revision, that took place after the approval of the Amendment n. 2 regarding the VN exit from the consortium, the new plan did not considered VN for further activity, since the person months already spent by this partners were considered and approved in the Amendment n. 1, while the revised effort for each partner was approved later, in the Amendment n. 2, aimed at redistributing the budget and the effort of the remaining parts of the project. It can also be underlined that VN, in spite of the premature exit form the consortium and till it remained an active partner, had an important role in the development of WP5 and WP6 and a supporting role in WP2 WP3 and WP4 (the work packages where the deviations are found): this is documented in the deliverables regarding these WPs. In particular, VN developed the first trials for the deposition of Al and Ti alloys finding the preliminary results that were used later by the partners in charge of the work originally assigned to VN after the approval of the Amendment n.2.
The deviations by the other partners can be explained and possibly justified under the same light, that is to say due to the difficulty to correctly estimate the revised effort after VN exit. Indeed the estimated did not take into account the need to do once again some other analysis that were started at VN but were not reported in detail due to the bankrupt of that partner. That is to say that due to the lack of information and detail about the analysis performed at VN it was necessary to repeat and complete a part of the characterization, especially at URJC.
As regards TWI, the deviation is more limited (-6 person months) and is related to the availability of the new cold spray plants there, with the need to set up new and innovative process parameters to get suitable results for the progress of the project. This also influenced the already mentioned and justified major effort at URJC, since they had to start again the characterization of the coatings obtained by these new process parameters defined at TWI.
As regards LPW, reporting 22 months more than expected in WP4, the reason of the deviation is the difficulty encountered by LPW in developing and supplying the correct powders to the partners. This made necessary to repeat more times the coating process and the post-process microstructural analysis, mainly in charge of URJC (and is the third reason why URJC is reporting much many more person months than the planned ones). Indeed the difficulties encountered in the development of the powder were a critical point of the project since it caused delay and the need to speed up the remaining activities in the last part of the project, and it caused a final minor efficiency of the consortium and induced some extra(not expected)-effort by the partners.
The other remarkable deviation is the one by KHAI, mainly involved in WP2, WP3 and WP5 (75 person-months more than planned): this is justified by the increased effort due to the development of the numerical tool and to the design and manufacturing of the new and innovative nozzles, which required more attempts before reaching an acceptable solution.
Indeed this was somehow considered in the definition of the revised budget in the Amendment n. 2 but not enough: this can be justified if it is considered that the numerical tools and the new nozzles are beyond the state of the art and can be considered an absolute advancement beyond the present scientific and technical knowledge of the process.
As regard the activities performed by KHAI in WP5, this is related again to the problems encountered in developing the right powder to be used in that WP.

Table 1- Person-months effort for each single partner: see attached file.

As regards the costs of the project, a summary is reported in Table 2: it is noticed that a total deviation of € 51,094.99 with respect of the planned and amended amount is registered. This can be explained partially with the increased number of person-month, already discussed and partially with the different personnel cost (and consequently the overheads) with respect of what planned in the Amendment n.2. As regards the deviation of the cost of the consumables, this is related to the need to buy and investigate commercial powder while LPW was developing a suitable set of powder as a well as the need to buy more consumables needed for the experimental tests (the number of experimental tests were increased due to increased effort for the characterization) and the tirals performed for the development of the new nozzles.

In Table 3 the detail of the costs for the single WPs in the Period 2 is reported: the comments are the same just done.

Table 2-Total costs of the project: see attached file.

In Table 3 the detail of the costs for the single WPs in the Period 2 is reported: the comments are the same just done.

Table 3 – Period 2, WPs cost: see attached file.

Potential Impact:
Introduction

CORSAIR has a strong potential for market, economic and societal impact. In market/economical terms, first of all CORSAIR will directly target the drastic reduction of costs associated with MRO both by impacting in the reduction of waste and in the increase of the re-use of components. In-situ advanced repair approaches will be developed in order to impact in the time, costs and environmental footprint of the MRO operations. At the same time it will boost the development of advanced, property-rich, sustainable coating for improving the performances and the safety of aero systems and for increasing the residual life of damaged aircraft parts.
Concerning the impact on aeronautical industry several EU enterprises, industrial and institutional networks strategically involved in manufacturing and production of aeronautic components and engines have already emphasized their interest in CORSAIR results and impact by direct contact and meeting with the project coordinator and partners during project preparation.
Concerning the impact in other sector beyond aeronautical, CORSAIR has also a high value in terms of technological extension, giving real opportunities of technological transfer of Repair Concepts to other EU-strategic industrial areas such as automotive, maritime, energy, etc. Concerning the technological extension, two aspects must be considered in particular in powder manufacturing and Cold Spray equipment fabrication. Powder Manufacturing Concepts and knowledge developed during CORSAIR could be firstly used of course for the industrial production of tailored feedstock powders for Cold Spraying MRO in aeronautical. However, the Concepts could be also transferred and implemented in the production of feedstock powders for other Cold Spray and thermal spray applications. In this sense, several companies worldwide are developing special and customised lines of products for the rapidly and progressively increasing Cold Spray (and thermal spray) industrial applications. So these concepts could open the market for a high quality supplier for Cold Spray applications. At the same time, concerning the Cold Spray Equipment Fabrication, in particular the portable unit, the concepts developed during CORSAIR project will help the EU to hold the leadership in Cold Spray equipment fabrication worldwide.

Main potential economic and social impacts
The results obtained within CORSAIR relate to safety, economic as well as societal issues. The application of the CORSAIR concepts (Improved Cold Spray deposition both at the production site and in the hangar by using the new portable unit) improve reliability during operation and minimise the time the aircraft needs to spend on the ground for inspection. This permit increased aircraft availability and lower maintenance costs to be incurred by the operating company. The definition of guidelines for the application of the process results in increased reliability that lead to a reduction in accidents, loss of life and associated compensation costs resulting from failure of critical aircraft structural components. Further financial gains are expected through extension of the reliable operational lifetime of specific structural components that can be achieved thanks to the new coating resulting from CORSAIR.
Thus, in market/economical terms, CORSAIR has the potential to directly target the drastic reduction of costs associated with Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO). Obviously, by achieving the direct goals, i.e. by building the required technology, the cost-efficient processes and methods supporting it, the new coatings developed by CORSAIR directly improve overall safety of aircraft and operation and will thus help to decrease fatalities and injuries with a strong impact in the European Socio-Economic scenario. On the other hand, the technologies and tools resulted from this project are essential to increase the European market from the current level in the next 10 years, and they provide opportunities for the employment of highly skilled professionals. This would contribute in solving of heavy societal problems interconnected with the high unemployment in Europe derived from the economic crisis. Summarizing, a successful CORSAIR project can ensure a strong strategic impact and have clear Socio-Economic benefits within the next five to ten years by contributing to:
• Enhance European aeronautical industry competitiveness by a positive impact in MRO;
• Strengthen European Leadership position in an strongly emergent technology as Cold Spray and powder metallurgy;
• Enhance European employment;
• Meet societal needs for more environmental-friendly, safer and efficient air transport;
• Meet societal needs for more environmental-friendly, safer and efficient manufacturing.

But there are also a number of additional perspectives, from which these benefits can be analysed, including reduced scheduled maintenance requirements. In fact, if scheduled maintenance, including inspection and repair activities, can be reduced, the required supporting infrastructure (i.e. NDE/I equipment, repair equipment, manpower, and materials) may be reduced as well.

Environmental Impacts
CORSAIR put great emphasis on environmental performance, through investigating and developing a process able to save the energy demand related to the technological characteristics of the process and on the reduced MRO operations required. The guidelines drawn emphasize this issue.
In this sense the environmental impact of CORSAIR is multiple and can be summarized in 3 Green Effects, or rather:

1. Energy (Reduction of Carbon Footprint) and Material (efficient and responsible use of global resources) Saving due to the introduction of new high-performances repair procedures which leads to the reduction of waste (i.e. repair of new damaged components) as well to the re-use of damaged components increasing the whole lifetime of many metal parts and components.
2. Green and Eco-Friendly Repair Process due to the effort in the replacement of greatly hazardous repair processes using chemical Cr(VI) or Dow17 or MIL-3171 by a green corrosion protection Al-base metallization by cold spray.
3. Reduction of Global Carbon Footprint by the effort in the development of portable repair technology to allow in situ repair procedures (directly in the airport) saving time, costs and in particular carbon footprint given by demount, package, ship of part to the manufacturing plant.

Main dissemination and exploitation activities
The communication of the CORSAIR results has been of paramount importance for the project in order to maximize its impact and trigger effects across the project’s entire range of target audiences. Dissemination is an integral part of the project’s activities aiming to spread awareness upon the scientific challenges faced by the CORSAIR project, presenting and enhancing in this way, the research profile of the European Aeronautics area. In a similar way, an exploitation strategy is necessary in order to ensure that the economic and commercial impacts of the foreground(s) generated within the project are maximized and further allow for long-term use of the project’s results, even after its end. These include scientific publications, participations at scientific and technical events, newsletters, news releases, etc. The project communication pack was accordingly updated in order to meet the needs of the project towards its end, and a knowledge monitoring and protection strategy (already introduced during the first half of the project) was in action at all times. Furthermore, considerations with regards to the exploitation potentials of CORSAIR were discussed positively by the partners; industrial partners seemed rather interested in further exploring this technology towards an in-house adaptation, while research organizations and SMEs were able to extend their capabilities, experience and knowledge in Cold Spray. In what follows, these actions are briefly discussed, and at several cases a comparison with the activities of the first reporting period is provided.

Objectives
During the first half of the project lifetime (M1-M18), WP9 objectives were mainly focused on creating the project’s visual identity, developing the primary dissemination tools (e.g. set up the project website, create posters and leaflets, presentation and poster templates), and identifying initial dissemination and exploitation opportunities. Furthermore, several dissemination activities realized during that period raised awareness upon the project and stimulated the engagement of a full range of potential end users (from the industry, research establishments and academia) to the project’s progress and results.
During the second half of the project’s lifetime (M19-M42), WP9 focus was accordingly placed on performing dissemination and exploitation activities following the initial plan and opportunities defined during the first half, towards keeping all potential users and CORSAIR “followers” updated and informed about the project, while not failing to increase the potential of market uptake and of maximum use of its results.
More specifically, WP9 objectives were to initially (M19-M21) evaluate and look back upon the actions realized and, based on the feedback received, partners worked on updating and coordinating the foreseen activities to follow, towards enhancing and delivering the high-level goals of WP9. At a second stage (M22-M24), WP9 activities sought to enhance CORSAIR profile and to further pursue dissemination and exploitation opportunities, caring to enhance the impact and uptake of the CORSAIR project.
During the third and final year of the project development (M25-M42), WP9 objectives were to:
• maintain availability of updated information regarding the project’s progress, achievements and significant results through the established communication channels
• continue monitoring dissemination activities in order to ensure that the disseminated materials are in line with the IPR rules and legal requirements
• continue reporting about these activities so that all partners are in-time and sufficiently informed of all planned and performed dissemination activities
• continue coordinating activities towards enhancing the visibility of the project outcomes and maximizing CORSAIR’s impact and exploitation opportunities
• continue working on the dissemination outreach of the project’s outcomes and communicating the results and foreground developed through scientific publications, presentations, and other activities

The CORSAIR Public Website
Developed during the first months of the project, the CORSAIR website has acted and continues to act as a 24/7 information point with an international coverage. Throughout the project duration, the CORSAIR website has been maintained and further adapted in order to meet the project’s needs and effectively showcase its progress and achievements. More specifically, the following actions took place towards maintaining the CORSAIR website, during the second half of the project:
- Newly-introduced sections:
o Periodic progress per work package: each work package is presented in a dedicated page, where a small description of the WP’s aims, scope and activities are. After the first half of the page, these pages were accordingly modified in order to also feature periodic (semester) updates of each WP. While an overall yearly progress update was previously featured in the project’s website, the continuous progress and results suggested that a more case-specific presentation of each task would allow website visitors to acquire more in-depth information, upon the technical challenges and breakthroughs of each WP
o Project Timeline: A brief timeline of the most significant outcomes was first introduced, however it was later replaced with a more-detailed module which provides information on the activities of the project throughout its entire duration
o Dissemination Activities: a list all CORSAIR-related information diffused outside the consortium (e.g. references to publications, conference presentations, newsletters/news releases, etc.

- Continuous updates on the following dynamic pages:
o Image Gallery
o Video Gallery
o News
o Progress
o Dissemination Activities

Over the course of the project, the CORSAIR website (http://corsair-project.eu/) has followed the latest progress and activities, providing in this way up-to-date information to visitors, keeping up with the latest project-related news (events, presentations, etc.), progress and obtained results, performed dissemination activities and outreach actions. The continuous updates of the project website with ongoing progress, news and results have allowed visitors to use it as a standard point for acquiring more information about the project. As the technical progress and the dissemination activities of the project progressed, the CORSAIR website remained a 24/7 reference point, for attracting more users and for keeping them engaged.
The website was visited by more than 10000 users according to Google Analytics.

Communication Pack
An initial version of the project’s leaflets and posters were developed during the first year. These presented a general overview of the project’s objectives, planned activities and expected results and were distributed to the consortium in order to facilitate them towards the implementation of their dissemination activities. The first versions of the CORSAIR leaflet, poster and banner were presented in the deliverable D9.1: Dissemination and Exploitation Plan, which was successfully submitted on May 2014 (M12), as well as in the project’s first periodic report. It is worth noting, that throughout the entire project duration CORSAIR leaflets and posters were distributed and displayed at a number of events (conferences, exhibitions, Fairs, Workshops):
Accordingly, the CORSAIR banner has been displayed in the following events:
An updated set of communication material was developed towards the end of the project, in order to present the CORSAIR results and achievements. In collaboration with the project partners it was decided to produce a short leaflet, able to provide an in-sight on the different aspects of the underlying research and the contributed experts, i.e.:

• Process modelling (POLIMI, NAU KHAI)
• Process development and coating characterization (POLIMI, TWI, IMPACT, LPW, METALOGIC, URJC)
• Technology Development (TWI, NAU KHAI, IMPACT)
• Aeronautic repairs using Cold Spray: Repairs of Aluminium and Titanium Alloys parts (Industrial partners, IMPACT, TWI)

Hard copies have been distributed to the consortium partners in order to facilitate them during their networking and dissemination activities. Emphasis was given on the final outcomes of the project and the CORSAIR Cold Spray Portable Unit, in order to promote its further use and exploitation after the project.

Newsletters, web-based information and press releases
Since the beginning of the project, the European Aeronautics Science Network (EASN) has been exploited as a dissemination amplifier towards communicating the project’s news to the European aeronautics academia, industry, as well as policy makers. A permanent reference has been included at the EASN portal since the beginning of the project (http://www.easn.net/research-projects/2/). Furthermore, frequent progress updates have been published at the Association’s periodic newsletter. It is worth noting that the EASN newsletter has an approximate outreach of 10,000 professionals in the aeronautics sector. Throughout the entire project lifetime, a total of nice (9) progress updates were published in the EASN periodic newsletters.
Another portal used for a major outreach was the Transport Research and Innovation Portal – TRIP, where a permanent reference on the project was published at http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?id=47549. In addition to the above, the CORSAIR partners have included references at the own institutional websites pointing to the project website and briefly explaining its main concept and objectives. A selective list is provided below:
• Extending Aircraft Life Using Cold Spray Technology, by TWI, available at http://www.twi-global.com/news-events/news/2015-05-extending-aircraft-life-using-cold-spray-technology/
• EU-Funded projects presentation, by POLIMI, available at http://www.mecc.polimi.it/en/research/eu-projects/
• CORSAIR (Cold Spray Radical Solutions for Aeronautic Improved Repairs), by EASN-TIS, available at https://easn-tis.com/projects/corsair
Furthermore, our Ukrainian partners have realized two TV interviews in local channels ("Objective" Media Group,Kharkiv - Kiev, Ukraine and TV and Radio company “Simon”, Kharkiv, Ukraine), presenting the project to the mass media and the general public:
Dissemination and Exploitation Plan (DEP)
In order to ensure the implementation of efficient and effective dissemination and exploitation activities, the CORSAIR partners had identified some of the main dissemination tools, events, actions, etc. towards disseminating the project to the relevant target groups. At the same time, exploitation activities and valorization applications for the targeted methodologies have also been considered. A well-structured methodology was necessary in order to ensure that such activities were realized across a wide set of events, channels and geographical areas, and that an effective targeting of users was achieved. Furthermore, actions were required to be evenly and rationally distributed across the development of the project, in order to successfully disseminate and exploit the project’s results, technical and societal impact, along its entire duration.
The CORSAIR Dissemination and Exploitation Plan (DEP) was firstly drafted during the first months of the project, based on inputs and contributions by all consortium partners, as they were asked to define key scientific fora and publications which should be pursued for the dissemination activities of the project. Continuously monitored, managed and updated, the CORSAIR DEP has been evolving during the project lifetime with the active participation of the entire consortium. The CORSAIR DEP was first introduced in D9.1: Dissemination and Exploitation Plan (M12), and later updated versions were discussed in deliverables D9.2 and D9.3: Dissemination and Exploitation Plan Update (M24 and M36), and D9.4: Final Dissemination and Exploitation of Results (M42). The last version included the latest activities, as well as planned actions to take place after the project end.
Following the structure of the CORSAIR DEP, the consortium partners planned their activities towards maximizing the project’s impact and attracting stakeholders and end-users from the industry. These activities are presented in the following sections.

Dissemination Activities
An extremely imperative precondition so as to ensure augmented exploitation, high impact and increased likelihood of uptake of the project’s results, is to prudently and effectually disseminate and communicate the appropriate information to the relevant and interested audiences in a concise and well-articulated manner. Dissemination and communication activities promote the project research, enhance the scientific profile of the project, contribute to the acceleration of knowledge, while also introducing new opportunities for networking and collaborations among the scientists and partner institutions involved.
Dissemination activities mainly include publications in highly ranked journals and participations in high-impact scientific events. The dissemination of the CORSAIR results was actively pursued by the entire consortium. In what follows, a complete list of publications and presentations is provided, as these took place during the second reporting period (M19-M42). For a complete list of all dissemination actions which took place throughout the project (as well as a presentation of activities which are planned to take placed after its end), please refer to deliverable D9.4 (submitted on M42).
Exhibitions, Open Days and Meetings with Industrial Stakeholders
In order to enhance the project’s impact and reach out to a wider audience of potentially interested stakeholders, the CORSAIR consortium has participated in the 5th EASN Workshop on Aero-structures (Manchester, September 2015) and in the AERODAYS 2015 Conference (London, October 2015). More specifically, a CORSAIR-session was organized in the former, which was composed of a series of presentations focusing on the technical challenges and aspects of the project, while at the AERODAYS Conference, an overview presentation was given by the project coordinator (please refer to the previous section for more information on the titles of the presentations). For both events, the partners organized a carefully planned exhibition booth to include informative posters, videos and flyers, as well as test samples showcasing Cold Spray repair and CORSAIR applications. Furthermore, CORSAIR was presented during TWI’s Open Day to Technical Experts, which took place at their premises in Cambridge, UK, in 22/10/2015. During this all-day event, both a poster and banner from the CORSAIR project were showcased, highlighting aerospace related research into the key technology of cold spray deposition. The CORSAIR banner was located with banners relating to other ongoing projects, and the CORSAIR poster was prominently located in the Thermal Spraying Laboratory at TWI where an estimated 60 people attended demonstrations throughout the day and evening. Members with an interest in titanium, aerospace, aluminium or coating deposition were able to view the poster during laboratory tours. TWI partners were on hand to answer questions relating to TWI’s contribution to the CORSAIR project. Finally, NAU-KHAI has realized a series of meetings with local researchers and industrial representatives in Ukraine, namely:
• Motor Sich JSC, from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (http://www.motorsich.com/eng/)
• SP Corporation “FED”, from Kharkiv, Ukraine
• Machine-Building Design Bureau Progress, from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine (http://ivchenko-progress.com/?lang=en)

List of Websites:
www.corsair-project.eu