EFEVE
Relevant project information
Dates
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Role of CIRCE
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Description and objectives
The current economic situation as well as the increasing competitiveness in the metal and foundry sector makes it necessary to improve the performance of manufacturing processes in order to reduce costs and increase the competitiveness of companies.
To achieve this goal, the sector requires new developments, market flexibility, cheaper products, cheaper manufacturing processes and materials, and more energy-efficient manufacturing technologies, all of which are addressed by the EFEVE project.
The project focuses on the development of new aluminum and magnesium alloys reinforced at the nanometer level, as well as on the manufacturing processes applicable to these new alloys.
The research will cover two different families of nano-reinforcements and their corresponding technological challenges:
- On the one hand, the development of nano-diamonds and other carbon-based nano-reinforcements to be incorporated into aluminum and magnesium alloys.
- On the other hand, the problem related to the incorporation and agglomeration of nano-dioxides, nano-carbides and other nanometallic particles in these light alloys.
Another major part of the technical tasks will address the development of high-productivity casting processes. Innovative production concepts will be applied to press-casting, low-pressure and HPDC processes to achieve new process variants that can offer higher productivity and quality ranges and adapt them to the use of nano-reinforced materials.
The main objective of the EFEVE project is to generate new manufacturing technologies for low-cost production of nanocomposites, development of advanced methods for the distribution of nanocomposites in magnesium and aluminum alloys, and new casting processes for greater flexibility and efficiency.
These developments will make it possible to manufacture new components (for the automotive, wind energy and construction sectors) with high performance, reducing weight, energy demand and costs, increasing flexibility.
Value proposition
The specific objectives of the project to achieve the global goal set in EFEVE are the following:
- Definition and development of manufacturing technologies for light alloys (aluminum and magnesium) with addition of nano-elements.
- Definition and development of new casting technologies to achieve performance, flexibility and energy efficiency requirements in the process.
- Definition, development and implementation of new technologies at pilot plant level.
Among other activities, CIRCE will be in charge of the integrated optimization and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which will contribute to the selection of the solutions provided by EFEVE.
In this way, CIRCE will carry out the assessment of the economic and environmental improvements achieved by the project.
Finally, a comparison will be made with the current state, including all aspects, processes and end users, and integrating them in a comprehensive approach to the project results.
In addition, CIRCE will actively participate in the definition of a replication strategy and an exploitation plan in collaboration with the rest of the consortium partners, ensuring a successful exploitation and dissemination of the results.