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H2020Doctoral network2015–2019

BioSmartTrainee · Training in Bio-Inspired Design of Smart Adhesive Materials

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2015-10-01 → 2019-09-30
EU contribution
€2,822,328
Participants
11
Scheme
MSCA-ITN-ETN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Training in Bio-Inspired Design of Smart Adhesive Materials

The last half century has seen a tremendous advancement in adhesives technology and has led to widespread replacement of mechanical fasteners with adhesive bonds. Bonding to wet, rough and fouled surfaces, however, remains challenging and adhesive technology is rarely applied for bonding in wet conditions. Therefore, a need exists to educate young researchers in this interdisciplinary research field of controlling adhesion under wet conditions and to bridge the gap between the fundamentals of underwater adhesives and their practice. The BioSmartTrainee research project aimed at the development of bio-inspired strategies to control adhesion to wet surfaces to get deeper insight in the mechanism of adhesion in wet environments toward robust design guidelines for underwater adhesives which are sticky on demand. The following general research objectives interconnected in scientific work packages (WPs) were: (i) extracting principles from biological systems and mimic them to design synthetic polymeric materials (WP1: Polymer Science); (ii) experimentally testing their adhesion to model and rough or fouled surfaces in wet conditions (WP2: Adhesion); (iii) clarifying the adhesion mechanisms based on quantitative experiments and theoretical modelling (WP3: (Fluid)biomechanics). Within each WP, ESRs were assigned a research project with a defined set of objectives, which were carried out in the laboratories of the 10 partners of which are 7 academic and 2 industrial full partners as well as and 1 associated industrial partner. This carefully planned research and training program in a network of leading academic and industrial partners ensured an excellent training in a pioneering research domain of high scientific and technological relevance, where Europe can take a leading position.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The last half century has seen a tremendous advancement in adhesives technology and has led to widespread replacement of mechanical fasteners with adhesive bonds (e.g. aircraft, automobile, construction, etc.). Bonding to wet, rough and fouled surfaces, however, remains challenging and adhesive technology is rarely applied for bonding in wet conditions, such as in (orthopaedic) medicine. Therefore, a need exists to educate young researchers in this interdisciplinary research field of controlling adhesion under wet conditions and to bridge the gap between the fundamentals of underwater adhesives and their practice. BioSmartTrainee is set up to provide such training by a combination of three complementary scientific fields: polymer science, adhesion and (fluid)-biomechanics. We aim to (i) extract principles from biological systems and mimic them to design synthetic materials; to (ii) experimentally test their adhesion properties in wet conditions and to (iii) clarify the adhesion mechanisms based on natural examples and theoretical modelling. These innovative adhesives will be useful for reversible attachment to a variety of surfaces in wet environments and, therefore, be highly relevant for products from European industry such as technological adhesives, coatings, tissue adhesives, wound dressings or transdermal delivery devices. This carefully planned research and training program in a network of leading academic and industrial (BASF, AkzoNobel, UGRO) partners will ensure that young researchers are given an excellent training in a pioneering research domain of high scientific and technological relevance, where Europe can take a leading position.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR POLYMERFORSCHUNG DRESDEN EV · DresdenCoordinatorGermany
  • AKZO NOBEL DECORATIVE COATINGS BV · AmsterdamNetherlands
  • BASF SE · Ludwigshafen Am RheinGermany
  • CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
  • IMPERIAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED · SloughUnited Kingdom
  • INM - LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUER NEUE MATERIALIEN GEMEINNUETZIGE GMBH · SaarbrueckenGermany
  • MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENGermany
  • PANEPISTIMIO PATRON · RIO PATRASGreece
  • TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN · EindhovenNetherlands
  • THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · CAMBRIDGEUnited Kingdom
  • WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY · WageningenNetherlands

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union