SUSTICOAT
WHAT IS SUSTICOAT
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network - European Industrial Doctorate
SUSTICOAT was an European Industrial Doctorate programme which enabled Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) to develop a broad range of academic and industrial skills while working in the field of sustainable organic coatings for corrosion protection.
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SUSTICOAT provided training to 5 ESRs in both the innovation process required to go from scientific concept to commercial product and in a range of specific scientific skills - computational modelling, polymer synthesis, advanced characterisation, material science and chemical process engineering, through tackling research challenges that fell between Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4 to 7.
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Moreover, the 5 ESR projects gave the researchers the opportunity to develop skills in the translation of knowledge from academic to industrial use: developing prototype products which realised academic insights; correlated laboratory performance with both accelerated test and real application performance; determined the performance window of substitute materials being introduced into a new market.
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You can learn about the ESRs's project in their own words in the recordings (embedded on this page) of their presentations given at the Formulating Functional Films and Coatings conference in August 2020.
This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie SkÅ‚odowska-Curie grant agreement No 721451
Disclaimer
The information provided in these pages does not represent the views of the funding bodies nor the partners involved in the project.
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RESEARCH PROJECTS
ESR1 – OPTIMAL CHROMATE-FREE COATINGS THROUGH CONTROL OF PARTICLE MICROSTRUCTURE
Chromate replacement in paint business has necessitated the assessment of a large number of corrosion inhibitor chemistries, of which only a small number have been found to be effective.This project aims to model the relationship between the microstructure of inhibitor particles within a coating and the corrosion protection properties of the coating. The project combines simulation to provide a baseline against which the experimental studies can be assessed to understand which routes lead to optimal coatings.
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Eugenio Bonetti presented a summary of the project at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group's "Formulation Functional Films and Coatings" conference on 19th August 2020 - a recording of the presentation is below, full details of the conference can be seen at https://www.formulation.org.uk/fffc
ESR2 - FORMULATION OF HIGH SOLUBILITY CORROSION INHIBITORS INTO AEROSPACE COATINGS
In 2010, Lithium salts were introduced as possible alternative to chromate as leachable corrosion inhibitors from organic coatings. Based on this, this project aims to gain an understanding of the effect of the coating formulation on the active inhibitor release rate in order to provide the most efficient use of the lithium base corrosion inhibitor and an optimal corrosion protection.
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Ander Cervellera Dominguez presented a summary of the project at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group's "Formulation Functional Films and Coatings" conference on 19th August 2020 - a recording of the presentation is below, full details of the conference can be seen at https://www.formulation.org.uk/fffc
ESR3 – IMPROVED CORROSION PROTECTION FROM WATERBORNE COATINGS
This research project aimed to gain a better understanding of waterborne Direct To Metal (DTM) coatings for both DIY and Trade markets. The objective of the project is to identify and understand the key formulation factors which determine the corrosion protection provided by waterborne acrylic latex coatings.
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Chi Him Lo presented a summary of the project at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group's "Formulation Functional Films and Coatings" conference on 19th August 2020 - a recording of the presentation is below, full details of the conference can be seen at https://www.formulation.org.uk/fffc
ERS4 - CORRELATING ACCELERATED CORROSION TESTING WITH REAL APPLICATION PERFORMANCE THROUGH THE CHARACTERISATION OF COATING MICROSTRUCTURE
The aimes of this project are, to generate an electrochemical test regime which, in combination with accelerated testing methods and advanced characterisation of the coating microstructure, will produce rapid and trustworthy Information of long term corrosion protection performance.
Moreover, to identify the key electrochemical signatures associated to early failure of coating systems, and to take advantage of the advances in high resolution microscopy to characterise short term changes in coating microstructure which can be related to both electrochemical measurements and real life performance?
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Raul Davalos Monteiro presented a summary of the project at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group's "Formulation Functional Films and Coatings" conference on 19th August 2020 - a recording of the presentation is below, full details of the conference can be seen at https://www.formulation.org.uk/fffc
ERS5 -Â CONTROLLING VOID FORMATION IN NON-BPA COATINGS
Organic Food Can Coatings are used in the packaging industry for protecting the food contents from spoiling and increasing shelf-life. In recent time there is a radical shift to use BPANI (Bisphenol-A Non Intended) coatings. AkzoNobel’s Vitalure BPANI are the 1st generation coating solutions for BPA free options. The SUSTICOAT ESR5 project “controlling void formation in non BPA coatings” focusses on studying the structure-to-properties relation in such coating. Nano AFM IR is one of such technique that will allow ESR5 to look into the structure/properties relationship which would help to gain better understanding of coating lifetime or failures.
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Apoorva Ambarkar presented a summary of the project at the Royal Society of Chemistry's Formulation Science and Technology Interest Group's "Formulation Functional Films and Coatings" conference on 19th August 2020 - a recording of the presentation is below, full details of the conference can be seen at https://www.formulation.org.uk/fffc
OUR PEOPLE
EUGENIO BONETI
ERS1 Researcher
Eugenio was born in Benevento, Italy. He obtained his MSc degree in Materials Engineering with a thesis focusing on corrosion. He chose the SUSTICOAT project because he wanted to further improve his knowledge in corrosion science, develop research expertise and apply his skills to solve real world engineering problems.
Having developed an interest in software tools during the modelling work undertaken as part of SUSTICOAT, Eugenio is now looking for a suitable opportunity in research software engineering.
ANDER CERVELLERA DOMINGUEZ
ERS2 Researcher
In 2014, Ander Cervellera completed his bachelor in Chemistry at Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Tarragona, Spain, In the same year he spend one year performing an internship at Toronto University, Toronto, Canada. In 2015 he obtained his Master’s degree in Nanoscience and nanomaterials at University Rovira I Virgili.
As a doctoral student at The University of Manchester in the SUSTICOAT program, his research focuses on materials characterization, polymer physics, and programming.
CHI HIM LO
ESR3 Researcher
Chi Him Lo was born in Hong Kong (China) and moved to Manchester (UK) with his family when he was 12. After graduating with a MChem degree from University of Manchester in 2014, he spent two years as a development chemist in the Packaging Coatings business at AkzoNobel Birmingham. This experience developed his interest and knowledge in polymer science and waterborne coating technology. He chose the SUSTICOAT project because it helps further developing both his academic and industrial research skills while maintaining his connection with AkzoNobel.
Chi has joined AkzoNobel as part of the Expertise Center Corrosion and is looking to extend waterborne coatings into more challenging applications.
RAUL DAVALOS MONTEIRO
ERS4 Researcher
Raul is a South American Chemical Engineer graduated from National Polytechnic school of Ecuador. He spent three years working in the oil and gas industry then moved to University of Manchester to pursuit a MSc Corrosion Engineering degree with full scholarship. Raul graduated with a distinction honour and deepened his research skills in the UoM Corrosion and Protection centre working on the AkzoNobel funded MSc project ‘NaOH corrosion of stainless steel’. He developed strong interest to corrosion science and electrochemical techniques and chose the SUSTICOAT project to continue his research.
Raul has joined Baker Hughes, where he is working in the materials technology department of the Oil Field Equipment (OFE) division. He is working towards becoming a subject matter expert (SME) to develop the expertise in the design of corrosion prediction tools for flexible pipe engineering projects.
APOORVA AMBARKAR
ERS5 Reseracher
Apoorva Ambarkar was born in Nagpur India. Inspired by her father who is a mining engineer she decided to become an engineer. Hence she went ahead and graduated as Chemical & Polymer Engineer from Birla Institute of Technology. Soon after she started working for Tata Motors OEM as a polymer specialist and worked in the New product development department for 2 years. Gaining first hand industrial experience, she wanted to diversify her skills with a post-graduation degree in Europe. She joined Erasmus Mundus MAMASELF programme for Masters in Material Science and got a joint Master’s degree from Ludwig Maximillian’s University in Germany and University of Rennes in France. After completing her masters, she came across the SUSTICOAT project which was a perfect fit for her polymer expertise and material science knowledge.
Apoorva has extended work on her SUSTICOAT project at The University of Manchester to gain further insights into BPAni coatings, then she plans to further her research career in polymer science and look for exciting opportunities in industry/academia.
LOCATION
The Mill, Manchester M1 3AL, Reino Unido