|
AIM Co-Co Project
According to this general framework the project is focused on the development of innovative safer non-stick coatings for pots and pans.
We decided to consider only inorganic coatings in this project, considering that cookware, on a conventional stovetop, can reach the temperature of 200°C in few minutes and that drip pans can exceed 400°C, because of their close proximity to the heating element of the oven and their thin walls. The use of any polymer, in fact, could easily involve emission of toxic particles or gases at these relative high temperatures. On the other side a safe production process of the coating should be solvent free, in order to avoid release or decomposition of residual organic solvents during heating of the final product.
The interest is focused on coatings presenting the following characteristics: high scratch resistance, high wear resistance, high hardness, low roughness, high corrosion resistance, high tarnish resistance, pleasant appearance and non-stick properties. Non-stick properties can be related to low chemical reactivity, low surface energy and low wettability. Surface free energy is the excess energy of the atoms or molecules, on the surface, compared with their counterparts in the thermodynamically-homogeneous interior. So the amount of free energy represents the capability of a substance to spontaneously react with another substance or to be wet by it.
The project will be structured in the following WPs:
WP1 Project management, Dissemination and Exploitation. This WP will be implemented to carry out the following activities:
• coordination between the partners, timely achievements of all the project objectives and tasks, prompt identification of any possible problem and bottleneck and related possible so-lutions, contacts with the most relevant end-users;
• reporting of all the deliverables (technical reports, interim and final reports, intermediate and final financial statements, etc.) as well as timely, targeted, and reliable information to any question and support the EC could ask on the project objectives and activities;
• internal and external evaluation of the project;
• exploitation strategy to advantage the European SMEs facilitating their access to the Knowledge and Project results;
• dissemination strategy of project results.
WP2 State of the art. This WP will be implemented to carry out the following activities:
• technology assessment of the partnership;
• patents and publication research on innovative coatings;
• evaluation of the current no-stick solutions on the pots and pans market;
• analysis of the previous unsuccessfully researches.
WP3 Synthesis of the innovative coatings. This WP will be implemented to carry out the follow-ing activities:
• synthesis and investigation of a pure metallic coating;
• synthesis and investigation of monolithic ceramic or glass ceramic coating;
• evaluation of the benefits in using quasi-crystals or ceramic as reinforcement for composite materials.
WP4 Characterization of the coatings. This WP will be implemented to carry out the following activities:
• surface composition;
• physical and metallurgical characterization;
• morphological characterization;
• scratch resistance;
• corrosion resistance.
WP5 Prototyping and testing.
WP6 Assessment of the new coating in the production system
• analysis of the new coating impact on the partner's production system;
• Market position analysis given the identification of the new coating in the production system.
The involvement of various partner in AIM Co-Co project will improve the competitive position of the participant. The international co-operation is fundamental: the innovation of the project will open new markets for the participating SMEs raising their turnovers and increasing the labour market given the needs to employ new workforce for the new production process. In fact, alongside the Teflon coated pots and pans, the AIM Co-Co coating will create a new market. Therefore, participating SMEs will have to redefine their market strategies developing “differ-entiation and trademark policies” and all other policies permitting their identification by the market as innovative, safer, cutting edge, careful to customer ’s health need producers. Be-sides, traditional distribution channels will have to be empowered through special agreements with suppliers and metal cookware distributors also to plan a strategy to exploit the large dis tribution channels in order to diversify the supply side and to enter the market more capillary. Moreover, trade agreement will be contract with particular exclusive territorial clause to ease the widest distribution of the new product and to better control the problem of falsification causing the product lack of safety, dumping problems and loss of the trademark high quality identity.
For further information about the project ,please, contact Mr. Andrea Ferrari: andrea.ferrari@associazioneises.org
|
