Objective
This Project Proposal treats a new approach to the manufacturing of sanitary and plumbing fixtures and to provide industry with a choice of materials that will satisfy the criteria of safety. For example, many metals used in fixture production are not recommended or are even forbidden to be in contact with drinking water by regulations in a number of European countries or seriously pollute the environment as a by product of their use and transformation (chrome alloys, brass containing lead, etc.). Adverse effects of other materials are currently under careful examination. The project addresses two new concepts in material studies for the manufacturing of sanitary fixtures with respect to mechanical loads, pressure gradients and temperature that will determine the performance of substitute materials related to their physical and mechanical properties under normal and hazardous conditions. 1, the new technology suggested in this proposal considers the contact area evaluation during the indentation process that uses a sweep ac technique and fast innovative 3 D finite element modelling. These methods will allow the accurate estimation of the hardness of the material, elastic moduli and fracture toughness as a function of frequency. These techniques will allow in particular to study the contacts of various materials and evaluate possible leakage potentials. 2, the data will form an input for an innovative expert system based on a modified neural networks dynamic programming and the fuzzy logic technique that will make an accurate decision of what substitute material should be used to fit a priori chosen parameters that satisfy the EU standard conditions for safety and product durability. It is important to underscore that in the course of the project an expert system will significantly reduce the time to market and will lead to considerable economic effects. The risk is however high but fully justified by the great potential direct benefits of reduced costs in manufacturing and high reliability of the selection of substitute materials that satisfy EU standards. The main concept is to accurately test and model various alloys, plastic materials and ceramics under realistic conditions and to develop a knowledge based system for selection and decision making. Such materials as polyphenylene sulphide compounds that have high flexural and compressive modulus will be studied and demonstrated as possible candidates for alloys replacement. A rigorous study of contacts between materials and possible leakage will be carried out. Comparative chemical analyses of the substitute materials will be carried out to assess organic molecules and trace metals released in water to assure their safety. The Project is based on active SME involvement in the proposed research and a rigorous management exploitation plan that will significantly reduce the risk of failure. A return on investment of one year is expected following implementation of commercial exploitation. The technology validation and testing will be undertaken by SMEs within 1.5 years after the completion of this 24 month research project before the commercial exploitation phase.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligenceexpert systems
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringceramics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencecomputational intelligence
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Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CRS - Cooperative research contractsCoordinator
88053 Foresta di Petilia Policastro
Italy