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WP1 - Industrial requirements and specifications:

  • To undertake a detailed definition of end-user specifications and target requirements for end user cases as input for constructing the laser texturing system requirement to achieve the desired system and performance.
  • To create the initial laser texturing system design based on end-user specifications.
  • To determine the business and operational requirements for exploitation.


WP2 - Development and validation of the laser texturing module:

  • To develop an optical module capable of achieving feature sizes in the sub-μm - 200 μm range at overall processing rate of 6 cm2/s, and specific removal rate of > 5 μm3/μJ using USP lasers in DLW burst mode.
  • To demonstrate automatised switching between interference- and non-interference-based laser texturing, and between SP and USP laser sources.
  • To validate and qualify the optical module before integration in WP6 (Flexible laser texturing system integration).


WP3 - Process monitoring and control module:

  • To develop an inline process monitoring system capable of sensing acoustic emissions at the targeted surface processing rate of 6 cm2/s.
  • To develop an inline optical sensing module based on diffractometry.
  • To use AI models trained using offline measurements (SEM, AFM, WLI) to correlate inline sensing data for the characterisation of hierarchical texture across the full sub-micron to 200 μm range.
  • To develop an acoustic autofocus control unit to automatically maintain the working distance at a defined position when processing non-planar surfaces.
  • To develop a model-based monitoring and control system to maintain (less than 10%) deviation from the reference surface topography and functional response.
  • To develop a smart integrable monitoring and control module.


WP4 - LCA guided design for surface engineering:

  • To collect specific environmental data to create an inventory of relevant data sets for all life cycle stages of the currently used surface treatments and the proposed texturing technologies.
  • To develop modelling capability to address the requirements of the SYNTECS textured surfaces and products.
  • To develop indicators to determine environmental performance of SYNTECS processes and textured products.
  • To develop an LCA design tool with specific environmental data, information and knowledge for the texturing technologies and the texturing products to be incorporated with Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems.


WP5 - Functional laser surface texturing process development:

  • To design custom (multi-)functional surfaces for each of the case study components, considering the full range of surface structures available using DLW/LIPSS and DLIP processing.
  • To determine processing parameters (e.g. pulse width, pulse energy, repetition rate, scanning speed, hatching distance etc) to achieve the designed (multi-)functional surfaces on each of the case study components.
  • To apply the designed surface textures to surfaces representative of the case study components using the laser processing equipment already available to the partners to validate the selected process parameters on the respective materials (stainless steel, DLC coated steel, titanium alloy and copper).
  • To investigate the use of USP burst mode processing to speed up laser texturing whilst improving the process resource and cost effectiveness in the context of the specific technical requirements of case studies.
  • To conduct interim functionality testing of the textured surfaces in a laboratory environment to validate the performance of each functional surface.


WP6 - Flexible laser texturing system integration:

  • To design and develop the SYNTECS laser texturing machine hardware, with integration of all technology modules.
  • To develop integration software for the SYNTECS laser texturing machine.
  • To test the performance of the SYNTECS laser texturing machine in lab-based performance testing.


WP7 - Manufacturing line demonstration and validation:

  • To apply the pre-defined texture designs and processes to the case study components using the SYNTECS modular machine platform, demonstrating an overall processing (OPEX) cost of <€0.34/m2.
  • To validate the (multi-)functional performance of the textured surfaces in operational environments in terms of customer specifications.
  • To develop a recommended production logistics framework for industrialisation of the SYNTECS process and machine platform using analysis of a material-flow simulation.
  • To refine the LCA-CAD tool based on evaluation in an industrial environment.


WP8 - Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication;

  • To create a viable business plan, that considers the potential environmental, social and economic impacts of the project results, and maximises the chances of post-project commercial success.
  • To ensure that the project IP and results are adequately protected.
  • To design a plan for the dissemination and exploitation of the project results.
  • To ensure that there is an on-going communication between the consortium and the general public.
  • To support knowledge exchange between SYNTECS partners by means of workshops with internal/external audiences to optimise integration effects and collaboration by means of training activities.
  • To build a basis for future commercial opportunities in alignment with the Joint Initiative to Standardisation.
  • To map relevant projects and initiatives, taking advantage of opportunities to engage and share results with ongoing projects, and to use results of completed projects as potential inputs to SYNTECS.


WP9 - Project Management:

  • To ensure overall project management, administration, coordination & execution, and that progresses and results are achieved in accordance with Grant Agreement (GA).
  • To ensure efficient communication with the EC, within consortium & EAB.
  • To perform continuous activities of quality assurance and risk management.