MRes Evaluation of functional coatings for marine renewable energy applications under cavitation erosion

Project Objectives
Test current and candidate erosion protection coatings under cavitation conditions.
Evaluate coatings through roughness measurement, sectioning techniques and microscopy.
Investigate antifouling properties of the highest ranked erosion resistant coatings.
Corrosion studies and failure analysis will be carried out in CREST DIT.

Methodology proposed
The development of new technologies in the marine renewable energy industry has led to issues with the susceptibility of some materials to erosion and fouling during in-service conditions. This leads to reduced lifetime of the structural and operational components. The loss of operational time and maintenance/replacement costs are considerable in a market projected to reach €9 billion by 2030. This is the main driver behind advanced multifunctional coatings for these applications. Multifunctional sol-gel coating have be previously shown to be resilient to liquid droplet erosion and have been investigated for aerospace applications. The project will be completed by using cavitation erosion facilities at IT Carlow and coating solutions provided by CREST DIT. Candidate coatings will be eroded by cavitation erosion and analysed using sectioning and other microscopy techniques. Cavitation erosion tests will be conducted following ASTM G32 standard protocols. Surface metrology equipment along with mass loss measurements will be used to identify the erosion taking place. Sectioning and optical microscopy will be used to visualise and verify the progression of erosion. Antifouling trials will be completed on the highest ranked coating following standard test protocol laid out in ASTM D3623. Corrosion studies and failure analysis will be carried out in CREST DIT using the dedicated accelerating corrosion suite and electron microscopy equipment

Expected outcomes: (e.g. deliverables & strategic impacts)
Two Journal publications, Surfaces and Coatings Technology and Renewable Energy
Conference paper at ICATES 2018, 27-28 Sep 2018
Strengthen collaborative links between engCORE and CREST DIT with further commercialisation of the functional coatings investigated.

Research Core / Group
EngCore http://www.engcore.ie