SURF-ERA

SURFERA is a network for materials and surface treatment technology and engineering, which aims to be at the European forefront in this area of expertise. This initiative, part of the CERVERA Programme promoted by the Industrial Technology Development Centre (CDTI), is made up of four technology centres with expertise in the field of surface technologies: AIN, CIDETEC Surface Engineering, IDONIAL and TEKNIKER.

The overall objective of the SURFERA network is research into the latest surface treatment technologies for application in high-value industrial sectors. To this end, the project will focus its activities on a series of enabling technologies which, because of their newness and capacity for impact, offer the best prospects for industrial transfer and for providing benefits to society. The technologies identified as such are:

(i) PVD vapour-phase coating technology.
(ii) NIL and LS laser micro and nano-structuring technology.
(iii) Molecular control coating technology.
(iv) Environmentally sustainable advanced electrochemical technology..

The project aims to generate new knowledge through research in the above-mentioned technologies, and to implement strategies to pilot these developments and adapt them to a number of selected industrial applications or Demonstrators.

In particular, the project will implement new processes for obtaining high-hardness coatings for the machine tool sector; decorative and functional surfaces with high resistance to corrosion with applications in transport, renewable energies and medical devices; and, lastly, active and ‘bio-inspired’ coatings/surfaces with applications in sensorics and optics.

A highly remarkable aspect of the members of this network is their role as a link between the more fundamental research carried out in universities and public centres and the applied research of companies. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the great potential of the centres in terms of pilot plants and their ability to scale up processes and adapt different treatment technologies that can then be implemented. This is perhaps one of the factors that gives the network its greatest value, because it is a fundamental feature that has given the centres access to companies active in R&D that otherwise would not have been possible.

CIDETEC’S role in the project:

CIDETEC participates in the various activities of the project, from research into new coating formulations and treatments, the implementation of pilot trailblazing technologies and the tasks related to industrial demonstration, following a methodology based on the integration of technological, internationalisation, dissemination/exploitation and training efforts. Cidetec leads the activities related to environmentally sustainable advanced electrochemical technologies, including the preparation and post-processing of plastic and metallic surfaces and the obtaining of metallic and composite coatings that overcome the technical limitations of processes free of toxic compounds such as Cr(VI) and that give rise to the aesthetic, haptic and functional properties demanded by various industrial sectors. Within this network, a large part of Cidetec’s efforts are focused on the implementation of a pilot plant with real-time control systems for electrochemical processes and a data analysis and management platform to guarantee the constant quality of different coatings and surface finishes on a variety of multi-sector components, predicting and anticipating possible production defects.