Periodic Reporting for period 2 - VIPCOAT (Virtual Open Innovation Platform for Active Protective Coatings Guided by Modelling and Optimization)
Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30
VIPCOAT aims to deliver an Open Innovation Platform (OIP) designed to engage (quadruple helix) stakeholders in a collaborative environment through a guided innovation process, in particular to support industrial end-users in making optimal decisions based on predictive modelling. The OIP facilitates team establishment by using a skill-based recommender system.
The proposed OIP, although being designed for a multitude of industrial applications, uses active corrosion protection coatings as the specific demonstrator case for the innovation platform implementation and development. Tightly linked complementary multi-scale models distributed along the protective coating production chain are the core of the VIPCOAT OIP demonstration.
The concept is specifically applied to the aeronautic sector, as one of the most challenging cases in terms of materials protection. The VIPCOAT platform is designed to be adaptable to support the development of sustainable protective coatings in other industrial areas alike, for example automotive and maritime industries, infrastructure for energy production, medical devices and generically for mechanical and civil engineering activities.
The proposed OIP, although being designed for a multitude of industrial applications, uses active corrosion protection coatings as the specific demonstrator case for the innovation platform implementation and development. Tightly linked complementary multi-scale models distributed along the protective coating production chain are the core of the VIPCOAT OIP demonstration.
The concept is specifically applied to the aeronautic sector, as one of the most challenging cases in terms of materials protection. The VIPCOAT platform is designed to be adaptable to support the development of sustainable protective coatings in other industrial areas alike, for example automotive and maritime industries, infrastructure for energy production, medical devices and generically for mechanical and civil engineering activities.
VIPCOAT OIP in the form of the beta realise of the digital enviroment has been delivered. Users can register and engage in innovation activities on the OIP, which has been implemented on an interactive web landing page. A structured innovation process on the OIP starts from an idea, through project proposal, collecting a team till running an innovation project. Platform users may explore or suggest ideas, challenges, or innovation topics. Based on the ideas or challenges, project ideas can be suggested, discussed and solved.
The VIPCOAT consortium, together with MUSICODE and OpenModel projects, investigated needs and requirements to extend the Open Innovation concept under the Horizon Europe program into Open Innovation Frameworks and published "Position Paper: Open Innovation in Horizon Europe" on OpenAir.
To implement the innovation process at VIPCOAT OIP, a number of interfaces and web-services have been implemented. Integration of all demonstrators Apps (User cases) has been provided for updated versions of the models. The deployment of a business decision support system (BDSS) at the industrial partner sites had been realized and is deployed on the OIP.
The VIPCOAT platform is currently implemented using Camunda, MoDeNa OSP, and uses OTEAPI as interoperability layer. An API to fetch chemical data from the international chemical database PubChem and a connection to the REACH database has been implemented.
The ProMo (Process Modelling) suite for capturing ontology-based knowledge on protective coating structures and formulations has been updated. This visual modelling method is subject of the CEN Workshop Agreement on 'ModGra -Graphical representation of physical process models' published in 2023 as a joint activity with MarketPlace project.
MODA (MOdeling DAta) documentation for the complete modelling workflow of the four User cases, representing main technological challenges in the formulation of coatings and their performance in coating test scenarios, has been upated.
For the User case 1 (Protective additives) a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model has been delivered to predict the corrosion inhibiting effect of small organic molecules on Al2024. The model uses the data from literature and generated by the consortium from inhibitor screening experiments analyzing more than 110 different chemicals.
User case 2 (Inhibitor delivery): a flexible stochastic micro-geometry model for the microstructure and morphology of active protective coatings based on 3D image data obtained by nano- and micro-tomography has been developed. The data for the models were collected by three experimental campaigns at DESY: two of them were focused on the sub-microstructure and the thied one investigated in-situ leaching. The delivered additional sets of materials data have been used for stochastic geometrical modelling of coating microstructure.
The modelling workflow for the multi-ion models have been intensive developed and improved for User case 3 (Degradation in defects) in the aspects of applicability both COMSOL and the MIoTras software tools. Additional functionality of the codes to model the percolation effects in the primer to analyse the leaching effect has been implemented into MIoTraS. To generate initial and validation data, inhibitor concentration experiments were performed for three inhibitor candidates, and surface analytical techniques for selected chemicals have been applied.
An AI-based model has been created for User case 3 (Degradation in defects). The model allows to predict some KPIs for the leaching process, thereby entirely avoiding CPU resources needed for physics-based modelling of the User case.
The general modelling workflow for User case 4 (Accelerated corrosion test) has been modified and further developed. The effects of water film thickness and salinity over time have been considered. The environmental simulations have been performed for 5 different commercially available accelerated corrosion schemes.
The VIPCOAT consortium, together with MUSICODE and OpenModel projects, investigated needs and requirements to extend the Open Innovation concept under the Horizon Europe program into Open Innovation Frameworks and published "Position Paper: Open Innovation in Horizon Europe" on OpenAir.
To implement the innovation process at VIPCOAT OIP, a number of interfaces and web-services have been implemented. Integration of all demonstrators Apps (User cases) has been provided for updated versions of the models. The deployment of a business decision support system (BDSS) at the industrial partner sites had been realized and is deployed on the OIP.
The VIPCOAT platform is currently implemented using Camunda, MoDeNa OSP, and uses OTEAPI as interoperability layer. An API to fetch chemical data from the international chemical database PubChem and a connection to the REACH database has been implemented.
The ProMo (Process Modelling) suite for capturing ontology-based knowledge on protective coating structures and formulations has been updated. This visual modelling method is subject of the CEN Workshop Agreement on 'ModGra -Graphical representation of physical process models' published in 2023 as a joint activity with MarketPlace project.
MODA (MOdeling DAta) documentation for the complete modelling workflow of the four User cases, representing main technological challenges in the formulation of coatings and their performance in coating test scenarios, has been upated.
For the User case 1 (Protective additives) a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model has been delivered to predict the corrosion inhibiting effect of small organic molecules on Al2024. The model uses the data from literature and generated by the consortium from inhibitor screening experiments analyzing more than 110 different chemicals.
User case 2 (Inhibitor delivery): a flexible stochastic micro-geometry model for the microstructure and morphology of active protective coatings based on 3D image data obtained by nano- and micro-tomography has been developed. The data for the models were collected by three experimental campaigns at DESY: two of them were focused on the sub-microstructure and the thied one investigated in-situ leaching. The delivered additional sets of materials data have been used for stochastic geometrical modelling of coating microstructure.
The modelling workflow for the multi-ion models have been intensive developed and improved for User case 3 (Degradation in defects) in the aspects of applicability both COMSOL and the MIoTras software tools. Additional functionality of the codes to model the percolation effects in the primer to analyse the leaching effect has been implemented into MIoTraS. To generate initial and validation data, inhibitor concentration experiments were performed for three inhibitor candidates, and surface analytical techniques for selected chemicals have been applied.
An AI-based model has been created for User case 3 (Degradation in defects). The model allows to predict some KPIs for the leaching process, thereby entirely avoiding CPU resources needed for physics-based modelling of the User case.
The general modelling workflow for User case 4 (Accelerated corrosion test) has been modified and further developed. The effects of water film thickness and salinity over time have been considered. The environmental simulations have been performed for 5 different commercially available accelerated corrosion schemes.
The VIPCOAT innovation process accelerates new product development starting from ideas to innovation project implementations. Utilizing an ontology-based recommender system, the platform supports building teams with desired skills and required experience necessary to conduct innovation projects.
The VIPCOAT OIP follows industrial required functionalities to facilitate innovation processes for sustainable protective coating development. The ambition is to support multiple manufactures along a distributed coating production chain including different industrial actors, which has never been tackled before.
The deployment of the first BDSS version is of value for the industrial partners. This decision recommendation tool paves the way to an integration of individual BDSS systems into a collaborative B2B2B decision support environment, which is a novel concept implemented in the frame of VIPCOAT OIP.
The interoperability system and technology is tested and developed in the frame of VIPCOAT projects giving valuable input for the digitalization process of coating industry and corresponding software architectures.
The VIPCOAT ontology tools use a new approach to construct user interfaces to capture coating formulations and structures. Three level of data documentation facilitates semantic interoperability and supports FAIRafication of data (both modelling and exterimental generated).
The development of predictive QSPR models ensures new ways to implement an active design of experiments and create a short-list of promising chemicals for experimental testing using the data-driven models.
The reconstructions of 3D coating microstructures from the nano-tomography experiments are an essential progress in the digital design of protective coatings. VIPCOAT carried out the first in-situ observation of inhibitor release from coatings.
MIoTras models as established in VIPCOAT for simulating the leaching effect of considered inhibitors are entirely unprecedented in the scientific literature.
In general, modelling supported designe provided by VIPCOAT OIP will reduce the environmental and economic load of experimental investigations, thereby contributing to a more sustainable coating development.
The VIPCOAT OIP follows industrial required functionalities to facilitate innovation processes for sustainable protective coating development. The ambition is to support multiple manufactures along a distributed coating production chain including different industrial actors, which has never been tackled before.
The deployment of the first BDSS version is of value for the industrial partners. This decision recommendation tool paves the way to an integration of individual BDSS systems into a collaborative B2B2B decision support environment, which is a novel concept implemented in the frame of VIPCOAT OIP.
The interoperability system and technology is tested and developed in the frame of VIPCOAT projects giving valuable input for the digitalization process of coating industry and corresponding software architectures.
The VIPCOAT ontology tools use a new approach to construct user interfaces to capture coating formulations and structures. Three level of data documentation facilitates semantic interoperability and supports FAIRafication of data (both modelling and exterimental generated).
The development of predictive QSPR models ensures new ways to implement an active design of experiments and create a short-list of promising chemicals for experimental testing using the data-driven models.
The reconstructions of 3D coating microstructures from the nano-tomography experiments are an essential progress in the digital design of protective coatings. VIPCOAT carried out the first in-situ observation of inhibitor release from coatings.
MIoTras models as established in VIPCOAT for simulating the leaching effect of considered inhibitors are entirely unprecedented in the scientific literature.
In general, modelling supported designe provided by VIPCOAT OIP will reduce the environmental and economic load of experimental investigations, thereby contributing to a more sustainable coating development.