Project description
First-of-its-kind sustainable and reversible adhesion technology
Forget about industrial glue! It is possible to weld plastics directly to metals thanks to a newly developed polymer brush-based coating. The EU-funded RadiBond project is preparing the market launch of this coating that enables the bonding of plastics to metal, glass and carbon directly in welding and over-moulding processes. Any suitable welding technique, which is able to melt the interface of thermoplastic material, can be used. This ranges from ultrasonic welding and laser welding to induction heating of the metal part. This groundbreaking technology will benefit hybrid assemblies – joints of dissimilar materials, which are key in modern product design and found everywhere, from smartphones, cars and TVs to dishwashers and aeroplanes. It will allow for the adoption of the most lightweight materials, high-performance plastics and plastic composites.
Objective
Technological developments are moving ever faster in our modern society, and so are the pressure put on industries to produce safe and sustainable products within a circular economy perspective. Hybrid assemblies, joints of dissimilar materials, are key in modern product design and found everywhere - in your smartphone, car, TV, dishwasher, in planes and so on. However, in modern products we increasingly rely on engineering plastics and fiber-reinforced plastic composites, which is intrinsically hard to bond to other types of material - and using industrial glue you cannot easily recycle the plastic part. This has become a major challenge that hampers development of better, more durable, longer living, and sustainable products in key manufacturing industries such as automotive, aerospace, medical device, electronics, renewables, offshore, consumer goods, etc. A prime example is the slow adoption of the most potent lightweight materials, high-performance plastics and plastic composites (70% weight reduction potential), in the transportation industry due to lack of acceptable joining methods – severely limiting the CO2 reduction potential of new cars and planes.
RadiSurf has developed the groundbreaking RadiBond technology, based on nanometer-thin coatings of polymer brushes, that provide sustainable, ultra-strong and ultra-tight hybrid joints that can easily be reversed at product end-of-life for disassembly and recycling of the bonded parts. RadiBond is a key enabling technology bringing outstanding bonding performance and easy integration into existing manufacturing assembly lines. As the pioneer in the industrial utilization of polymer brushes, Radisurf are now targeting full-scale market launch of RadiBond. However, to succeed in the transition from a small R&D provider to a manufacturing company, support from the EIC Accelerator Pilot program is crucial for demonstrating industrial implementation and scaling of the chemical production capacity.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phones
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
8240 Risskov
Denmark
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.