Green Coat
Green high-performance and low friction interfaces tailored by the reactivity of novel DLC coatings and ionic liquids
Challenge
The GreenCOAT project will design a new type of green, DLC-coated interface based on an innovative DLC-deposition technology that can be tailored to operate with ionic liquids, a harmless form of lubrication that will comply with tough new restrictions relating to greenhouse-gas emissions. This compliance will soon be demanded for all heavily loaded, lubricated mechanical components in transportation and industrial systems. In fact, current ONU, EU and national emission legislation already restricts the use of some of today’s key lubricants, for which there are no acceptable alternatives available.
This means that if a new green interface lubrication is not developed in very near future – before the introduction of these tighter restrictions – the performance of much machinery will rapidly deteriorate, leading to massive technical, economic and social consequences.
Solution
The GreenCOAT project is about developing innovative DLC coatings tailored for chemical activity with ionic liquids, combining a unique, in-situ, ionic-liquid–DLC adsorption and a simultaneous tribological study, to establish the boundary films’ adsorption kinetics, reveal their electrochemical and tribocorrosion behaviour, then perform a detailed (sub)nano-scale surface characterisation and a full-scale, green-interface validation for heavy-duty fluid-power hydraulics systems.
Project Reference
M-ERA-NET2/0014/2016Funding
EU
