Objective
In Europe the building industry (architectural applications) is still dominated by using yellow and green chromating as pretreatment methods of aluminium before powder painting for outdoor use. This is strongly dependent upon the robust processes and a relatively broad process window. Another reason is that the two European organisations GSB (Gtegemeinschaft fur die Stckbeschichtung von Bauteilen) and Qualicoat thus far only has approved chromating, anodisation and recently preliminarily approved two alternatives on architectural details for outdoor use. Chromating accounts for approximately 300 MECU a year in the European building industry and the painted and chromated surface is evaluated to 350 400 Mm/year. However, yellow as well as green chromating contain hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+) both in the baths and in the coatings and this hexavalent state is declared to be very toxic, carcinogen 111 and sensitizing , i e frequent and/or prolonged exposure can lead to allergies. Furthermore Cr 6+ requires heavy waste tretament steps, depending on for instance the reduction to the trivalent chromium state before disposing it. The reduction and disposal costs are about 65 % of the costs of the chromating chemicals. The available chromium free treatments have limited application because of limited long term bath stability and scale up problems (5 months bath life for zirconium based bath, compared with 5 years bath life for a standard chromate bath) and because an objective comparison with standard technology on real products is not available. Moreover the use of rinsing steps results in waste water. The feasibility study in stage 1, with 4 investigated main alternatives, showed promising results in outdoor and accelerated corrosion testing . The main objective of this research project is to forward an extensive use of chromium free processes in the pretreatment of aluminium before powder painting, because of their better occupational hygiene and safety than chromating. Based on available chromium free alternatives (anodising, ironphosphating, titanium and zirconium based formulations) and some laboratory treatments (with known compositions), it is intended to prolong the bath life by the study of the effect of the sensitivity of the bath to impurities and process reactants of the treatment. This will result in a measurement and control instrument in this respect. Antother objective is to develop the possibility to run the processes followed by no rinse, i e without conventional rinsing after the conversion coating has been applied. The most promising process(es) on a pilot scale due to the selected aluminium alloys, resistance of impurities, the adhesion of the painting and the corrosion protection of the system, will then be adpated on an industrial scale. The project plan consists of four tasks with verifiable deliverables: 1 ) testing and optimisation with respect to bath life of chromium free alternatives and the effect of no rinse, 2) cost and environmental assesment, 3) testing on a pilot scale and development of a process measurement and control instrument, 4) demonstration of the developed process on real products and adaption of available processes on an industrial scale. This project is very important, since it will show many European companies that it is possible also industrially to use chromium free alternatives and to fulfill the demands from the companies. The European building (architectural) industry confronts strong competition from the USA and Far East, so this project will be important to show the industrial willingness and ability in Europe to convert from Cr 6+ processes to more environmentally friendly ones. A reduction of chromic acid consumption, which is the main compound in chromating, of 50 % in the building industry during the nearest decade is a realistic approximation. This will also lead to an equal reduction of chromium sludge disposal and that the chromium allergies in the building industry will decrease. Today the building industry accounts for 17 % of the chromium allergies in Sweden
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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering water treatment processes wastewater treatment processes
- humanities arts visual arts
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine allergology
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
574 02 Ekenässjön
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.