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DRYCOAT

Surface Engineering

DRY electrolyte for mass application of COATings.

The project:

The main objective of DRYCOAT project is to develop safe and sustainable surface treatment process such as plating and anodizing based on dry electrolytes. The project pursues to replace the use of liquid electrolytes by solid ones and substitute the currently used plating and anodizing baths and lines by a machine which can be easily integrated with the other production systems. The developed solutions will be validated for jewellery (Cu and Ni plating) and biomedical market (Ti anodizing). Top benefits of the developed dry electrolytes will be:

· Safe and more environmentally friendly processes of electroplating and anodizing.

· Consistent surface finish across the entire product in terms of thickness of the coating.

· Prevention of hydrogen embrittlement.

· Ecofriendly recycling of electrolytes and reduced cost of waste disposal.

· Lower temperature requirements.

DRYCOAT represents a huge leap forward in surface treatment effectiveness and safety and brings the process in reach for smaller manufacturers.

CIDETEC’S role in the project:

CIDETEC Surface Engineering, as a reference center in surface treatments, with extensive experience in electrochemical technologies, is subcontracted by both Spanish partners during the whole project.. CIDETEC will collaborate in the development of the electrolytes for anodizing and plating and in the optimization of the processes. CIDETEC will also study the possible regeneration of the electrolytes after its depletion and will contribute to the fabrication of the demonstrators for the validation of the developed technologies for the jewellery and biomedical markets.