Polymer brushes - a sustainable bonding technology for dissimilar materials

Project Information

RadiBond

Grant agreement ID: 960123

DOI

10.3030/960123

Project terminated on 8 January 2022

EC signature date 9 September 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 30 September 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 2 112 500,00

EU contribution

€ 1 478 750,00

Coordinated by

RADISURF APS
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RadiBond (Polymer brushes - a sustainable bonding technology for dissimilar materials)

Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2022-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Assemblies between plastics and other materials like metal, glass and carbon has a huge, but often overseen impact on our daily lives. We find such bonding in numerous everyday objects and devices (e.g. medical devices, cars, planes, electronics, appliances) and also in industrial processes such as production lines of food and beverage, offshore industry etc. One of the most significant examples is the increased use of lightweight polymer components in transportation to reduce vehicle weight and hence fuel consumption, a critical component in reducing environmental impact from this sector. However, achieving strong bonding between dissimilar materials is an inherent challenge due to the different chemical properties of the surfaces. Available adhesives typically bond strongly to just one of the materials and will fail under extreme conditions. RadiBond was developed as a ground-breaking solution to overcome this problem. This technology makes use of nano-meter thin chemically bonded polymer layers, popularly known as polymer brushes, that can be applied on a solid substrate to make its surface chemically compatible for bonding to polymer-based materials. This allow the two surfaces to be joined by conventional industrial welding methods, such as hot-plate, ultrasonic, laser, solvent etc. This form of joining materials involves a unique type of molecular bonding that provides superior bonding strength and stability, extremely thin and tight bonding interfaces, and an overall minimal environmental footprint in the assembly of materials. Furthermore, the bonding process is reversible, providing the foundation for material recycling and a sustainable production. These features of RadiBond offers a revolutionary solution to overcome several transitional challenges to manufacture better, more sustainable products required for the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.
The key objective of the RadiBond project, and its following commercialization phase, is to bring the RadiBond coating technology from the current validated lab-scale solution to full commercialization in key markets. This involves I) scaling the production capacity of the RadiBond chemical coating agents to industrial levels, II) introduce coating systems viable for high-volume production and III) in collaboration with existing pilot-customers test and qualify the RadiBond technology as a market-ready assembly solution in their product.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Throughout the project period, RadiSurf has focused on three primary tasks, 1) Solving fundamental chemical and technical challenges that has so far limited the scalability and efficiency of the RadiBond solution, 2) Design, build and operate pilot systems to validate high volume production and 3) to validate the RadiBond solution in the products of its clients. In 1) the key chemical and technical challenges has been mapped, thoroughly investigated and to a large degree solved. Most importantly, the active bath lifetime, the amount of time the coating solutions can be reused before refilling, has been upgraded by a factor of more than 6, which is in line with the expectation for high volume throughput in the key targeted industries. Important improvements have also been achieved on the process rate; the time required to complete a full coating cycle. Moreover, the work has introduced a whole new set of protocols for the overall surface treatment that greatly improves coating quality, uniformity and durability. An important inclusion in the project has been the Brownie Bee digital analytical tool supplied by the Danish Technological Institute. This tool supports the process of design of experiments and has been instrumental in speeding up the experimental work and reaching conclusion faster. In 2) the scalability of the production process of the RadiBond coating chemicals has already been proven by producing batches at industrial level in less than a single shift. For this purpose, industrial automated mixing machines has been acquired and validated with a consistent quality at or above the level of manual mixing. Simultaneously, some systems have been developed and upgraded by RadiSurfs internal resources to dramatically improve on the synthesis of key active components. In terms of the coating process, several large industrial systems have been designed in collaboration with a US manufacturer of wet-chemical coating tools to allow for automated bath coating and roll-to-roll coating. Order for the tools is expected to be placed in Q2, 2022. Internally, a smaller manual bath coating system has been produced by internal resources in the RadiSurf facilities and are currently being used for production on behalf of a client. Output with this system is coating of around 400 larger sheets a week. An upgraded version of the systems has been designed and successfully implemented in the client’s facility. In the final task 3) RadiSurf has worked closely with around 30 clients to test the RadiBond technology in their specific products. Support through the project has reduced risk for the client and allowed a faster than expected implementation of the products. At the closure of the project, there was 1 client with product established on the market and 2 clients with products in beta-test (on the market, but not finally qualified). 3 additional clients were in discussions for implementation of RadiBond test-coating lines in their facilities. The remaining clients were still running material or product tests but had substantial timelines for implementation.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Developments in the project has mainly been along the lines of expectations; however, we expect that both the production capacity of the RadiBond coating chemicals and the coating capacity will exceed the objective set in the project as systems already acquired or designed has a higher throughput. Furthermore, the commercialization has been achieved before time, with 3 clients already on the market with RadiBond solutions in their products.

Project impact