Project Summary- IP NANOKER:
www.nanoker-society.org
Research, Technological Development and Innovation:
The RTD approach comprises the understanding of the role of the scale of the nanostructure on
the unusual mechanical and physical properties of the ceramic composites in the form of coatings
and bulk materials. This will involve designing new materials and innovative composites with a
range of nanostructure scales, and relating the nature of this nanostructure to selected properties.
The overall research approach is specifically designed to demonstrate the role of nanoscale
microstructures in inducing special properties in innovative ceramic composites, tailoring them on
nano, up to macroscopic level; developing of new processing routes for synthesis of tailored raw
materials or nanocomposite powders; understanding the physical-chemical process taking place
during sintering by advance consolidation technologies and near-net-shape manufacturing
technologies; and up-scaling developed nanostructured materials to knowledge-based industrial
production and component fabrication.
Although the proposed RTD approach contains significant portions of basic research, the project
strictly integrates industrial requirements on all levels of activity. The integration of industry
ranges from basic research to establishment of design rules for application of these materials to
large-scale systems.
In order to warrant that the knowledge generated throughout the project development is shared
out through different industrial and economical sectors the project has been organized in three
main phases.
The first phase concerns Materials, Process and Product Development Strategy. In this phase it
is included the Requirement and Concept Definition of both a) Nanomaterials and b) Process &
Products. A RTD Risk Evaluation and Contingency Planning will be developed. An internal
training activity on management and coordination for subprojects and workpackage coordinators
is planned. Also training on Health Impact Issues will take place before to start with the
experimental part of the project. Last topic will be issued in dissemination activities.
The second phase (RTD phase) is generic for all industrial sectors and application fields of
nanomaterials. This phase is the core of the project, the generated knowledge will be analysed
concerning its possible protection and exploitation, publication of results. A specific training unit
about nanotechnologies, environment and gender topics will be realized.
The third phase is application oriented research and consists on the conversion of the research
and development results into industrial products, including definition, development, evaluation
and verification of up-scaling technologies and the industrial production methods and processes.
It consists on Modelling and Simulation of devices, Up-scaling, Prototyping, and Mechanical
Engineering. Here the knowledge will be shared between the direct actors involved in the scale
up of the necessary manufacturing technologies and/or development of specific devices. This
phase has been focused on three specific application fields represented by three subprojects:
SP1: Biomaterials, SP2: Optics and SP3: Extreme Conditions and Microdevices.
In parallel to these phases a workpackage Coordination will be active all over the duration of the
project as well as a Total Quality Management workpackage that is related to the necessary
iteration between the different workpackages due to the interdependency of materials processing.
During the execution of this phase special emphasis will be put on the detailed knowledge
dissemination to industry in order to transform the industry towards high-added value
organizations. This includes dissemination of knowledge about project activities, subsequent
training and coaching of the industry to enable the full application of results for innovative
activities. Further activities are the search for new fields of application and the feedback to
