Objective
Fretting wear is the limiting factor in the life of many plastic injection moulds. Each time that the mould is closed during its
moulding cycle, the contacting surfaces “adjust” to each other and undergo microscopic vibrational movements that slowly
damage these surfaces, leading to severe tear and particle release. Ultimately, the mould needs to be scrapped after
repeated regrinding, thus significantly affecting overall mould service life. Since longer productive lifecycles further dilute the
heavy upfront investments in casting moulds in injection moulding production pipelines, reducing the impact of fretting
corrosion is a fundamental need transversal to all manufacturing industries relying in this type of productive process.
Building on CemeCon Scandinavia extensive experience in solving tribological problems in injection mould’s operational
environments, cleanMOULD is a novel coating solution, based on a multi-layer DLC formulation that jointly optimizes both
the surface hardness and lubricity to minimize the impact of fretting wear. The current project is positioned to untap a very
significant business opportunity by preparing our next-generation DLC coating for full market roll-out, while also thoroughly
documenting its performance through large demonstration, in fully operational manufacturing pipelines within the premises of
key industry players in the injection moulding industry.
cleanMOULD has the potential to become a key enabling technology transversal to entire plastic industry. Overall, return-of- investment for cleanMOULD users is expected to be over 20x the expected coating costs, thus providing a very compelling
value proposition. In addition, cleanMOULD represents a huge business opportunity for CSA, opening the perspective of
adding approx. €14 million over the 5-years post project as gross profits, yielding a global multiplier effect of over 10x for the
ratio between the expected profits and the costs of the current innovation project.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringtribologylubrication
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringsubtractive manufacturing
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivity
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.2.1.2. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies Main Programme
- H2020-EU.2.1.5. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced manufacturing and processing
- H2020-EU.2.1.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced materials
- H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
8382 Hinnerup
Denmark
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.