The need of using high performance lightweight materials is pushing the aerospace industry to incorporate aluminium alloys in many parts of the aircraft. But all aircraft components, and especially those of landing gears, need to be able to withstand friction and corrosive environments while continuing to operate at optimum levels. Nowadays most landing gear parts made of aluminium alloys are protected against corrosion by surface anodising and multilayer painting. The treatment is usually carried out on Cr(VI) based compounds. To date, there is not any Cr-free accepted protecting treatment for Al 7000 series alloys that fulfils the aeronautics requirements, so, it is necessary to develop an environmentally and Cr-free acceptable alternative process. The main objective of ECOLAND project is to face the research of a suitable REACH compliant anaphoretic electrocoating treatment (including both the optimal pretreatment method and anaphoretic electrocoating application conditions) that can replace the currently used anodising + painting treatment for protection of Al 7000 series alloys in aeronautic applications. This anaphoretic electrocoating will allow a reduction of emissions, saving of coat and improvement of corrosion protection. The following improvements will be aimed from the ECOLAND Cr-free project: • The lifetime of the anaphoretic electrocoating system shall be 25 % longer than the lifetime of traditional. • It is expected a minimum of around 30% cost and 45% energy consumption reduction in manufacturing compared to currently available systems. • Thanks to the new coating systems more complex geometry parts could be coated and so landing gears might be designed lighter than currently ones. • The production time to be shortened in a 55%. • A decrease of the risk of mechanical failure due to the reduction of the alloy exposure time to acids. • VOCs emissions will be reduced in a 50%.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is key for improved design and production process of aviation parts. Applied to heat exchangers (HX), it could dramatically improve global eco‐efficiency through access to radically new designs and open horizons in terms of shape, weight, efficiency. Nevertheless, some questions need to be solved regarding capability of Additive Manufacturing (AM) to manufacture thin walls, small holes/gaps, low overhang angle, resulting surface roughness and mechanical strength. AManECO aims to enhance knowledge of metal AM and, specifically, the capability of SLM process to manufacture thin layers and wall thickness with adequate surface finish using AlSi7Mg0.6 and INCO 718 materials. In particular, to investigate aerothermal and mechanical performance of thin walls, to predict them in the design of AM-HX and consequently, be able to optimize the HX´s design process in an Eco-friendly way after knowing the limits of the metal AM technology. For this purpose, testing samples will be designed and manufactured to characterize in terms of surface properties, pressure resistance and gas tightness evaluation, equivalent stiffness and aerothermal properties. Besides, numerical studies based on FEM and CFD simulations will be done. Then, a representative design of HX based on the initial SOA of AM limitations will be optimized with the gained knowledge. These designs, before and after optimization, will be processed and characterized. Then, a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database will be created to evaluate the ECO potential of the innovative HX. AManECO will enable to: - Increase efficiency of HX up to 10%. - Reduce the overall of HX manufacturing costs by 30%. - Reduce material waste and scraps by 15 % per component. - Reduce time-to market up to 1 month. A multidisciplinary consortium, with experts in HX design and AM (TUHH, LORTEK, FIT), samples characterization (CIDETEC, MU-ENG), numerical simulation (EPSILON, TUHH), and life cycle assessment and eco-design (CTME), has been defined.

Chromic Acid anodizing (CAA) of aluminium parts has been extensively used during decades in aircraft manufacturing thanks to its excellent performance. However, hexavalent chromium is known to be carcinogenic and harmful for the environment. The main objective of the topic to which the present proposal relates is to optimize a Chromium-free sealing process for thin layer Sulfuric Acid Anodizing (SAA) as eco-friendly alternative to CAA for aluminium unpainted parts. In the present Project, a statistical approach based on Design of Experiment (DoE) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) will be used to optimize two sealing solutions, one previously studied by the Topic Manager and one to be proposed by the Cosortium. The optimization will be performed firstly at laboratory scale for AA2024 taking into consideration corrosion resistance in Salt Spray Test (SST), economic and ecological aspects. In parallel, the mechanism of corrosion protection will be proposed and the stability against contaminant and ageing of the solutions will be assessed. Secondly, still at laboratory scale, the optimized process will be implemented to other aluminium alloys, performing adaptations or modifications if necessary. Afterwards, the two sealing processes will be scaled-up employing a pilot plant. In case problems arise, the lab-scale and pilot-scale studies will be iterated. Finally, the sealing processes will be implemented in an industrial scale and demonstrators will be processed. The characterization of samples and demonstrator will include SST, weight and thickness of anodic layer; Contact Angle Measurements (CAM), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Focused Ion Beam (SEM-FIB). Additional techniques are considered as well in case they are useful.

The BioBIVE Consortium is a multidisciplinary 16 members group of universities, research centres and SMEs from 6 different European countries aimed to achieve, as main objective: “the development of bio-based platforms to allow the controlled release of bio-active agents able to control the plant pathogens of horticultural crops helping to decrease the use of chemical pesticides”. The general objective is based on three different bio-based release platforms (bio-plastic mulch, biochar and sprayable mulch) and three bio-active agents (basic substances, microorganisms and marine phenolic compounds),which will be the starting point to achieve the final best formulation. The functionality of these bio-based delivery systems that use substances from natural sources against crop pathogens instead of chemical pesticides must be evaluated in laboratory, greenhouse and environmental conditions, using diverse cropping systems (e.g., carrots, strawberries, tomatoes) and techniques, which are part of the BioBIVE Partners expertise.