Objective Oil and gas exploration is being carried out in ever deeper water, as more readily-exploitable reserves become depleted. And whilst previously uneconomical deep-water oilfields are now becoming financially viable, accessing them remains difficult due to the technical challenges associated with extreme operating conditions.When working in water at depths of up to 5000m the water pressure is above 500atm. Components and systems for extracting oil and gas need to be neutrally buoyant, in order to maintain them in the desired position. Buoyancy modules for drill risers used in exploration lines are currently made from syntactic foams using micro and macro-spheres. Macro-spheres offer buoyancy advantages, but become increasingly unreliable at greater depths due to manufacturing inconsistencies. A typical deep-water buoyancy module will contain thousands of tightly packed spheres, and when a buoyancy module fails this can necessitate costly repairs and lead to environmental harmThe current technology for buoyancy modules operating at less than 3km uses spheres made of Expanded PolyStyrene (EPS) balls which are then coated with a shell of epoxy resin. The epoxy coating acts as the load bearing structure withstanding water pressure. Spheres from each batch are pressure tested and rated for performance which determines the depth at which the batch can be usedThis proposal concerns development of a perfectly spherical, low-cost coated ceramic macrosphere manufacturing process. The ceramic spheres will be designed and manufactured in more than one size for improved packing density and rated for higher compressive strength allowing use at greater depths. A further development of this project is to address the sphere contact issues within the current syntactic foams. Point contact between spheres can contribute to failure from stress concentrations. We propose to coat the higher strength ceramic spheres with an elastomeric resin, reducing stress and the risk of failure. Fields of science engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and filmsengineering and technologymaterials engineeringceramics Programme(s) FP7-SME - Specific Programme "Capacities": Research for the benefit of SMEs Topic(s) SME-2013-1 - Research for SMEs Call for proposal FP7-SME-2013 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme BSG-SME - Research for SMEs Coordinator MOULDED FOAMS LTD EU contribution € 244 523,89 Address Wardpark Road, Wardpark South 1 G67 3EX GLASGOW United Kingdom See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact John Thornberry (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Plasto AS Norway EU contribution € 260 835,13 Address ORAN OST 6300 Andalsnes See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact Lars Stenerud (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data DE CAVIS AG Switzerland EU contribution € 265 282,57 Address WOLFGANG PAULI STRASSE 10 8093 ZURICH See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact Urs Thomas Gonzenbach (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data ALMATH CRUCIBLES LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 271 642,41 Address THE RUNNING HORSE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE EPSOM BUILDING UNIT 2 A CB8 9NE BURROUGH GREEN See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact Zophia Turowska (Mrs.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Total cost No data TRELLEBORG OFFSHORE UK LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 39 750,00 Address STANLEY WAY STANLEY WAY INDUSTRIAL WN8 8EA SKELMERSDALE LANCASHIRE See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact Dave Williams (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data THE UK MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIMITED United Kingdom EU contribution € 12 738,00 Address MIDDLE ASTON HOUSE OX25 5PT OXFORDSHIRE See on map Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Administrative Contact David Cartlidge (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data EIDGENOSSISCHE MATERIALPRUFUNGS- UND FORSCHUNGSANSTALT Switzerland EU contribution € 16 228,00 Address UEBERLANDSTRASSE 129 8600 Dubendorf See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Zürich Zürich Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Jakob Kuebler (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data