Intelligent engineering coatings for in-manufacture and in-service monitoring of critical safety products (CoatIN)

涂料是大多数制造产品性能的关键，它们通过提高效率和延长其保护的产品的寿命以及减少稀缺散装材料的使用来促进可持续性。涂料是美国制造业的重要组成部分，为许多行业做出了贡献，包括航空航天、能源、汽车、建筑和医疗保健。然而，到目前为止，与高价值制造业相比，英国涂料行业在设计、开发、制造和产品实施方面一直落后，特别是在数字化程度方面。该项目将开发具有新功能的智能涂层，可以在制造和使用过程中进行自我监控。多学科团队将使用一套建模工具，传感技术和实验沉积和表征设施在曼彻斯特大学，谢菲尔德大学，克兰菲尔德大学，女王大学贝尔法斯特和斯旺西大学嵌入新的传感器功能涂层，使用各种沉积工艺。EPSRC探索流项目将是应对英国涂料制造业数字化挑战的关键一步。拟议的研究将帮助英国PLC开发可预测、数字化和更具生产力的制造方法，为世界领先的涂层制造工艺提供途径。该研究将支持涂料制造业实现一流的高价值制造水平。

Coatings are key to the performance of most manufactured products and they contribute to sustainability by enhancing the efficiency and extending the life of the products that they protect, as well as by enabling the reduced use of scarce bulk materials. Coatings are a vital part of the nation's manufacturing industry, contributing to many sectors, including aerospace, energy, automotive, construction and healthcare. However, until now the UK coatings industry has been lagging behind compared to High Value Manufacturing sectors in terms of design, development, manufacture, and implementation into products, particularly in terms of the degree of digitalisation achieved. This project will develop intelligent coatings with new functionalities that can self-monitor during manufacture and in-service. The multidisciplinary team will use a suite of modelling tools, sensing technologies and experimental deposition and characterisation facilities at The University of Manchester, the University of Sheffield, Cranfield University, Queen's University Belfast and Swansea University to embed new sensor functionalities within coatings, using a variety of deposition processes. This EPSRC Exploratory Stream project will be a key step to address the challenges of digitalisation in the UK coatings manufacturing sector. The proposed research will assist UK PLC to develop manufacturing methods which are predictable, digital-enabled and more productive, providing a pathway to world-leading coating manufacturing processes. The research will support the coatings manufacturing industry to achieve best-in-class levels of High Value Manufacturing.