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1 Reactor/ dispersion Functionalised nanoparticles & solution

ITENE

2 High Energy Ball Milling Nanoparticle in polymers and/or plasticizers

MBN

3 Polymer Compounding Nanocomposite pellets HPX

4 Nanodeposition, coating & lamination

Barrier and easy emptying tubes

TUBA

5 Nanodeposition, injection moulding

Barrier & easy emptying tube shoulders

SIBO

6 Nanodeposition, encapsulation Self cleaning OPV BEL

7 Injection moulding Light weight car parts, Barrier containers

PEMU

8 Control of nanodeposition, coating & lamination lines Monitoring systems IRIS

9 Electrospray machine BIOINICIANanodeposition for injection, coating & lamination lines

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10 Nanoparticles introduction in coating & compounding lines Dispersion systems

IRIS,EURECAT

11 Coating and compounding Formulations developments

EURECAT, FRAUNHOFER

12 LC, OWS, IOM

Overall business, economic, environmental and nanosafety assessment

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13 End user of nano enhanced packaging for cosmetics ILIRIJAEN

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Processing and control of novel nanomaterials in packaging, automotive and solar panel processing lines

JULY 201803

Editorial

Nano-Enabled Packaging Manufacturing

Nanocomposite injection moulding

Barrier Coating application and tube making

Final electrospraying process and results on tailored polarity

Online monitoring as key to support the optimal processing of nano-enabled coatings

OptiNanoPro’s outreach

Partners

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Editorial

While our project is its final sprint until end of September, it is time to start looking ahead of us and plan post project steps. As seen in our sales brochure, we have set up a unique network of capabilities and pilot plants (see map fig. 1) able to further deploy the promises of nanotechnology in the industry through complementary development and supply of products, solutions and services along the value chains. We are in fact embedded in a broader European Network For Pilot Production Facilities and Innovation Hubs (EPPN) which is being set up by EC through a recently funded CSA project. This initiative, aligned with future NMBP call for proposals, shows a clear bet from the EC to support innovation through an ecosystem of open access test beds. It has currently mapped 141 pilot facilities across Europe providing access to a number of technologies (see map fig. 2).

This newsletter will bring an update on the project results to date, with a specific focus on packaging and on process monitoring. We also provide an update on the project outreach and plans for the last few months of the project.

Dr. Elodie Bugnicourt, Project Coordinator

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THE RESEARCH PROJECT RECEIVES FUNDING FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY‘S FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION HORIZON 2020 (2014-2020) UNDER GRANT AGREEMENT NUMBER

www.optinanopro.eu

Content

For more data as well as updates on news and events:

Newsletter edited by IRIS

Contact: Elodie Bugnicourtebugnicourt@iris.cat

OptiNanoProVIDEO

SALES BROCHURE

Fig 2: The EPPN network of European Network For Pilot Production Facilities And Innovation Hubs

Fig 1: The OptiNanoPro network

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Fig. 3: Filling of plastic into the mould cavity

Nano-Enabled Packaging ManufacturingNanocomposite injection moulding

Packaging components, tube shoulders and jars, were manufactured by injection moulding. Before any actual injection moulding was done, moulding simulation was used for preliminary parameter assessment and determination of possible pitfalls. Where possible, the mechanical properties and flowing tests were added to the software for the new nanoenabled materials. Injection moulding is a process of mass production of parts made from plastic materials. Two main elements of the injection moulding process are: an injection moulding machine and injection mould. Moulding machine is responsible for the processing of plastic material and providing energy for mould movements. Injection mould’s function is to distribute the material from the machine into the mould cavity, which has the shape of the end component. Depending on the part geometry and material used the optimal process parameters are evaluated which determine quality and productivity.

Barrier Coating application and tube making

The nano-enhanced coating has been applied using a the machine which was developed with IRIS in previous projects. PET and PLA-based films were coated with OptiNanoPro gas-barrier coating solution developed by Fraunhofer (see 2nd issue of our project newsletter). The machine was upgraded by IRIS with an ultrasound dispersion system and a monitoring system for online coating thickness measurement (see next section).

To obtain suitable materials for tube making, the solvent lamination of PET or PLA-based films coated films was performed with PE and PLA respectively. Resulting laminate structures for tube production were PE/ Adhesive/OptiNanoPro gas-barrier coating solution/PET or PLA/Adhesive/PLA. They are expected to comply with either end of life by material recycling thanks to the separation of the different layers upon the enzymatic removal of the whey coating or by composting respectively.

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Fig. 4: Injection mould for nano-enabled shoulder on the machine

Fig. 7: Laminate structure (Optional easy emptying layer on inner PE)

Fig. 8: OptiNanoPro tube

Fig. 6: Coating process

First tubes with OpitNanoPro shoulders and laminates have been successful produced in TUBA. Further optimization and analysis will be done in the closing stage of the project. As will be reported in a future issue of our newsletter, the tubes are being tested to pack cosmetic and food products after optional application of an easy emptying finish (see next section). The laminates are also converted into pouches to pack other food products.

For the tube shoulders, used materials were based on classic commodity materials which through state of the art processes are compounded into nano enhanced materials. Beside a stable process, SIBO had to ensure that the injected components are comparable to the current solutions and can be used within the same value chain. This means that they must not vary outside technical specifications of standard components, so they can undergo same post manufacturing processing. In case of shoulders this means they can be processed on the same tube making line without any major modifications. With the tests carried out so far, we now have a packaging solution which previously did not exist and can be produced in large enough quantities to also be cost effective. A second type of packaging component produced by injection moulding in the project were cosmetic jar. The base materials of this product are commercial biodegradable and non-biodegradable polymers. PEMU established the optimal injection moulding processing parameters of Optinanopro nano-enhanced compounds on natural “bio” and white colours.

Further optimization and process analysis will be done in the closing stages of the project to also obtain a biodegradable shoulders. First trials were already undertaken with promising results and SIBO has produced its first bio shoulder.

Fig. 5: Finished shoulders and jars from nano-enhanced material

Fig 12: Example of screenshot from OptiNanoPro monitoring system’s software showing the variation of the monitored values across a set of here 3 optical probes vs. set tolerance along the web while the coating is applied

CONTINUE IN THE NEXT PAGE

Online monitoring as key to support the optimal processing of nano-enabled coatings

During this period, the results obtained at laboratory level have been successfully scaled by Bioinicia to the pilot machines by making appropriate adjustments. After required equipment modifications needed to run our patented multistep process, hydrophobic and amphiphobic nano-coatings were carried out. Also, proper adhesion to the substrate and durability of the repellency behaviour have been improved.

As seen in prior newsletters, different approaches and formulations have been used depending on the type of property desired: Hydrophobic - Superhydrophobic surface and Amphiphobic surface. According to our recent publication1, the surface patterns needed to get super hydrophobic behavior can be seen in figure 10.

The performance of nano-enhanced materials, such as those developed for the OptiNanoPro packaging applications, depends on their tailored deposition. This is true of both the barrier properties of the nanocomposite microlayer, where nanoparticles are dispersed into a polymer matrix which require a constant thickness, and of the easy-emptying properties of the nano-deposited coatings which require a specific surface nano/micro texture. Therefore, two online monitoring systems were developed by IRIS, one to measure the thickness of the nanocomposite microlayer on the TUBA coating process line and one to monitor the nanoparticles layer deposited by the nano-deposition machine developed by Bioinicia (fig. 10). In the latter case, the quantification of the layer by an absolute parameter is not straightforward due to the complex structures, therefore a quantified parameter correlated with the final effect on the surface polarity was identified instead. Different

Final electrospraying process and results on tailored polarity PAG

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promising optical techniques were evaluated with relevant sample sets provided by Fraunhofer and Bioinicia before proceeding with the design of the two prototypes. Indeed, when shining light through heterogeneous/multilayer samples, different scattering, reflection, transmission, and interference effects occur and the resulting signal can be treated to obtain information on the sample structure. For monitoring of the microlayer thickness, spectral reflectance, where a white light source is directed at the sample surface and the reflected light is collected and analyzed with a spectrometer, was selected and the monitoring system developed. Assembly and integration into the coating line were performed first, followed by testing (see hardware and software in the figures 11 and 12).

Fig 9. Singles step process (left) vs multi step adapted process (right).

Fig. 11: Monitoring systems installed respectively in TUBA`s barrier coating pilot plant (left) and BIOINICIA’s electrohydrodynamic machine (right)

Fig 10. Improvement of contact angle with hydrophobic nano-coating and related surface microstructure

1. doi.org/10.3390/coatings8050173

Partners

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OptiNanoPro’s outreach

Among the important activities in the closing phase of our project, we are disseminating its main results and providing opportunities for capacity building to external stakeholders. Having a body of results to demonstrate the utility of OptiNanoPro’s research, we organised our first Technology & Applications training event on the 5th of April which was hosted by our partner PEMÜ Műanyagipari Zrt. in Solymár (Hungary). This was designed to inform research institutes, plastic processors, raw material producers, and universities interested in nanotechnology about the results, findings and experiences of the OptiNanoPro project about bringing nanomaterials in industrial production lines. The event, attended by over 30 delegates, had a specific focus on polymer nanocomposites produced though compounding and injection moulding technologies considered of most relevance to the automotive sector in which our host is mainly active. The event also highlighted the project’s contribution to technology development in electrospray, packaging, coatings and nanomaterials safety.

Our second Technology & Applications training event will be held in July as part of Nanotexnology 2018, the International Conference & Exhibition on Nanotechnologies for Organic

Fig. 13: OptiNanoPro training in PEMU

Fig. 14: Announcement of OptiNanoPro’s workshop at Nanotexnology

Electronics & Nanomedicine in Thessaloniki, Greece. On July 5th, OptiNanoPro is hosting a Special Session on "Integration of Nanomaterials into existing Production lines" featuring speakers from the EU Pilot projects OptiNanoPro, Izadi-Nano2Industry, Procets and EPPN; the projects will also be showcasing their activities and achievements at the exhibition. Matching the main focus area of the conference, our experts will highlight aspects of surface coating and tailoring for OPV and packaging, as well as in-line nano/micro metrology and nanosafety (find out more).

Our training activities culminate in our final session in September where we will have a specific focus on packaging and include a number of live demonstration regarding barrier and self-cleaning materials production. It will be hosted by our partner Lajovic TUBA in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Contact our coordinator (ebugnicourt@iris.cat) to register.

For monitoring of the nano-deposited layer, the approach selected takes advantage of the effect on light of the highly diffusive surfaces produced. Information about the amount and homogeneity of the nano-deposited structures were obtained by analyzing the laser diffraction patterns resulting from the scattering of the laser light by these structures and then related to process parameters and surface properties. The system was installed and tested inline in the nano-deposition machine at Bioinicia. Both monitoring systems are controlled by tailored software. A user friendly Graphic User Interface was designed to provide all the functionalities needed to enable visualization of the monitoring results, system configuration, as well as perform hardware alignment procedures. The delivered systems are fully versatile and can be customized to different coating and surface treatment needs, substrates types, machine size and process configuration. In an industrial environment such systems can be key in supporting the process ramp up, reducing scrap, and reducing post-production quality control requirements while ensuring constant quality.