The project integrates perfectly in PN II at the prioritary field 3 – Environment, research direction 3.1 – Methods and mechanisms for reducing environmental pollution; research theme 3.1.1 – Technologies with low degree of pollution, especially the energy transport and output.

The project has as main objective the elaboration of technologies and achievement of new materials, destined to achieve hard surfaces for the aircraft components and for the turboengines used to produce energy, very low degree of pollution with no negative effects on humans.

The specific objective of the project is the elaboration of the new specific technologies for the surface coverings which must have a high degree of hardness, using HVOF thermal spray process, obtaining in this context new special materials for the achievement of the special properties required by the aircraft and turboengines components.

The goal of the project is the replacement of some strongly environmental polluting technologies and materials, having carcinogen effect on people, such as the “hard chrome plating”, with non-polluting technologies and materials (almost zero effect in the case of the project proposal) such as the HVOF thermal spray and WC/Co materials. The hard chrome plating is a technique that has been used for 50 years and it is an essential process associated both with the achievement of hard surfaces of the new pieces but also with the maintenance activities. This technology uses the chromium in the hexavalent state which is a known carcinogen and an environmental polluter. The environmental protection agencies from the most developed countries imposed in a first stage standards for the hexavalent chromium (MACT) and established permissible exposure limits (PEL) in the workplace of 100 milligrams / m3. The extremely recent studies have indicated that even at these standards the risk of cancer is very high, the presumed value which would lower the risk in a tolerable range would be between 0.5 - 5 milligrams / m3. At the present, all the highly industrialized countries from EU and USA study different possibilities for the hard chrome replacement, the most advanced ones in this direction being the North American states.

The best results were obtained with the “thermal spray coating” process using the “high velocity oxygen fuel” (HVOF) technique.

For the pieces of great importance such as the aircraft and turboengine components, the assimilation of a new method for the achievement of hard surfaces is very complex because the performances which have to be reached are very high and their attestation very complicated.

The Romanian proposal is the hard chrome replacement, even for the extremely pretentious pieces, with a surface covering of “thermal spray coating” type according to a technology especially created for each support material using HVOF technique and a contribution material from the WC/Co group (in concordance with the support material).

It is for the first time in our country when such a project is tackled and especially in the case of pieces of great importance. The consortium was structured as to include the best specialists in the fields which will be approached. The institutions which participate to the achievement of the project have all the financial and personal resources necessary for the ongoing project. The heading equipments are in functioning state.

We consider the impact generated by the project extremely important both for the technical-scientific point of view - it is for the first time when it is approached and solved such a problem especially for the vital components, and economic point of view (launching of profitable business in the field of surface coatings and the diminution of cost price of the pieces, the new method being cheaper than the hard chrome.

There must not be neglected the social effect, creation of working places and holding the high qualified labors inside the country (the new method absorbing this category), but especially the effect upon the environment which is extremely important, eliminating thus an important pollution source which has a devastating effect (highly carcinogen) on the people in this sector.

The project proposal is extremely complicated, practically being an European level and importance project.

General Objectives

The project integrates perfectly in the objectives of the four program because its main objective is the increase of the Romanian C-D competitiveness, by stimulation of a complex and complete partnership among C-D entities (University = UPB CEMS, INCD – INCDT COMOTI Bucharest, and medium and small economic agents = PLASMAJET, METAV –IP, STRAERO) in a field of maximum importance such the Environment and it materializes in a product - technology destined both to the protection of environment and human personnel. The project was integrated in the field 3, Research direction 3.1. "Methods and mechanisms for reducing the environmental pollution", Research theme 3.1.1. – Technologies with low degree of pollution, especially the energy transport and output. These objectives overlap perfectly with their objectives because they follow the achievement of special technologies destined to the environmental and people protection pre-eminently to the system of (air) transports and producing energy (turbo engines destined to produce energy).

The specific objectives followed by the project proposal are the development of new technologies and of special materials systems destined to obtain hard surfaces for the components of aircrafts and turboengines destined to produce electrical energy in co generative cycle, by applying a variant specific to the HVOF process.

Consortium

The consortium formed project team includes leading institutions from all fields to be addressed and aims to solve this problem with examples on representative components. Experience of scientific and technical partners to compete in solving the problems to be solved is very large and was accumulated over a number of joint researches in similar scientific directions.

CO - www.comoti.ro - NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE FOR GAS TURBINES Bucharest (CMT)

P1 – www.sim.pub.ro - Polytechnic University Bucharest through Research and Expertise Center Special Materials CEMS

P2 – www.plasmajet.ro - SC PLASMA JET SRL

P3 – www.metavindprod.ro - SC MIP METAV IND PROD SRL

P4 – www.straero.ro - Calculation and Testing Institute for Aero Structures - SC Astronautics STRAERO S.A. Bucharest

Project Stages

Stage I.  Hypotheses and theories, studies and analyses regarding materials and technologies which can generate hard coatings with special characteristics

Stage II. Studies on materials and surface coatings in order to obtain hard layers (commitment appropriations)

Stage III. Elaboration of documentation and experimental model

Stage IV.Execution of experimental models

Stage V . Experimentation of the experimental models