MATERIALS INNOVATION

SIM aims to strengthen the materials industry in Flanders through materials innovation funding. Each year, SIM has a considerable budget available to support companies and research institutions in their innovative materials research.

Here you can read more about our SIM themes, SIM programs and other programs like projects in the transition domains or intercluster projects.

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PROJECTS OVERVIEW

Here you can find a summary of all the programs and projects in which SIM has provided innovation support.

SIM PROGRAMS are all programs running at SIM or that have run within SIM. Under the tab INTERCLUSTER PROJECTS you can find all running intercluster projects, which are projects set up between members of different Flemish clusters (Spearhead clusters and/or IBNs). Within the TRANSITION PRIORITIES tab you will find all the projects conducted in the transition domains. These are projects framing in one of the Flemish transition priorities Circular Economy, Industry 4.0, or Energy. RELATED PROJECTS are projects on a SIM theme, but not in a program.

ACTIVE SIM PROGRAMS
  • All
  • 3D printed parts
  • 3D printing/ additive manufacturing
  • artificial intelligence and data mining
  • battery
  • building materials
  • CO2 reduction / climate change
  • coating
  • composites
  • concrete
  • high throughput experimentation
  • hydrogen technology
  • joining
  • materials for heavy duty / harsh environment
  • materials for renewable energy
  • metals
  • modelling of materials
  • multi-functionality of components
  • nanotechnology
  • post-treatments
  • printed functionalities
  • quantum dots
  • recycling and material recovery
  • reinforced plastics
  • self-healing
  • surface texturing
  • surface treatment and tribology
  • sustainability
  • WAAM
  • wastewater treatment
  • weight reduction
  • wind energy
  • wind turbine

SIMBA: all solid state Li-batteries

Sustainable and Innovative Materials for Batteries: the ambition is to bundle knowhow and effort to create a local battery ecosystem, which enables value creation and jobs in Flanders by the time generation 4 batteries (all solid-state, ASSB) break through.
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MARES: recycling of industrial residues

Recycling of ‘Materials from solid and liquid industrial process Residues’. The aim is at creating and demonstrating an operational, flexible toolbox to recover metals and valorize residual matrix into building materials.
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MADUROS: durability of metal structures

Wind turbine
Material durability and modelling of the loading of metals in an environment causing degradation (corrosion, abrasion, fatigue).
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M3: macro-level modelling

Simulation tool
MacroModelMat: Macro-level predictive modeling, design and optimization of advanced light weight material systems.
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STREAM: additive manufacturing

3D design
The performance of Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes of STRuctural Engineering materials strongly depends on optimal printing material properties and printing parameters, supported by specifically developed monitoring and simulating software tools.
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NANOFORCE: fibre reinforced composites

Next generation nano-engineered polymer hybrids: developing structural composite materials with increased durability, improved recyclability and low weight.
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SOPPOM+: printed functionalities

Photovoltaic cells
Solution based processing for printed functionalities. Three main directions are foreseen within this program: printed electronics, printed photonics and printed energy.
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SHE: self-healing

Self-healing material
Self-healing engineering materials: cementitious, polymeric and coating materials with the ability to heal damage autonomously.
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CLOSED SIM PROGRAMS

TRAP: nanotechology

TRAP project
Tools for rational processing of nanoparticle based materials: the aim is at strengthening the scientific base for the rational processing of nanomaterials and creating technology platforms.
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H-INT-S: composites modelling

HINT-S program
Looking at soft/hard matter composites to establish a knowledge base for an intelligent design of functional polymer-based composites.
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INTERCLUSTER PROJECTS

CTO

CTO project
The CTO project focuses on the End of Life (EoL) challenge in offshore wind energy and on improving the sustainability of offshore wind energy throughout its life cycle.
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Re2live

Re2live banner
Re2live aims to investigate the entire value chain of automotive battery recycling (rechargeable Lithium-ion) and stationary energy storage applications.
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RAINBOW

Rainbow: wind turbine
As erosion causes significant production losses, the RAINBOW project aims to gain a better insight into the erosion of rotor blades due to precipitation and lightning.
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ROADMAP FPF

Roadmap Food packaging of the future
The roadmap for food packaging for the future should set out the research lines for the following years in order to develop advanced packaging together with industry, government and knowledge institutions.
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APPLISURF

APPLISURF: biosurfactant
Screening the application potential of a yeast-based biosurfactant portfolio.
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SAFELIFE

Welded steel structures
Lifetime prediction and management of fatigue loaded welded steel structures on structural health monitoring.
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LIFEBAT

LIFEBAT project
This feasibility study examines what opportunities the arrival of (lithium-ion) batteries brings for the Flemish industry.
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CORONA

CORONA project
Corrosion resistance of stainless steel after post-treatment after welding: the objective is to arrive at a ranking of the most suitable cleaning techniques for specific applications.
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TRANSITION PRIORITIES

3D2BGREEN

3D2BGreen project
3D2BGreen is a 3D concrete printing research project focussing on sustainable concrete mixtures for the 3D printing of breakwater units.
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WAAM

WAAM project
Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing is a method to produce metal parts by adding and depositing material layer by layer. The intention is to build up knowledge in Flanders through practical research.
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CLEANSCRAP

CLEANSCRAP project
A journey towards optimized valorization of ferrous-based scrap: metal, and ferrous metals in particular, are rightly seen as one of the best recycled and recyclable materials. But there is room for a next step.
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INSIDE METAL AM

Inside metal AM project
In order to achieve a large-scale breakthrough of Metal Additive 3D printing, a number of barriers still need to be removed around material suitability and availability, insufficient and inconsistent material and product properties and production speed.
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CIRCULAR CONCRETE

Circular concrete project
Regarding the use of materials in the construction sector, concrete has a significant impact. Application of a number of principles from the circular economy would therefore provide significant added value.
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POCOBUILD

PVC pipes
Post Consumer PVC for the building industry: the goal is to completely close the PVC circle for post-consumer PVC waste, originating from window and door profiles.
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RELATED PROJECTS

MULTICORR

Multicorr project
The aim of this COOCK project is to improve companies' knowledge of the risks of, and possible solutions to, galvanic corrosion at multi-metal compounds (mainly metals).
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SIM THEMES

To optimally deploy our resources, SIM has defined several themes where the industrial activities in Flanders regarding materials can be further strengthened by setting up strategic research platforms. We have done this by carefully studying and mapping the Flemish landscape of materials research and industry. All SIM programs fit within the following themes.

DURABLE & SUSTAINABLE STRUCTURAL MATERIALS

Three domains were identified in this theme to match the interest and specialization of material related industry and research organizations in Flanders: hybrid structural materials, high performance multi-functional structural materials and sustainable processes.

MATERIALS FOR ENERGY & LIGHT

Energy generation, storage and use is one of the main challenges for the future of Europe, therefore also of Flanders. In the SIM framework, strategic focus is on the following topics: harvesting of energy with photovoltaics, energy conversion with fuel cells and energy storage with batteries.

PREDICTIVE MODELING AND ADVANCED CHARACTERIZATION

Materials and products become increasingly more complex. More different materials become available each year, resulting in endless combination possibilities for applications and functionalities. Basic knowledge, using detailed material characterization and modeling, is needed more than ever.

RECYCLABLE MATERIALS

Recycling is a hot topic nowadays. Recycling is a process to change waste into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials and to reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials. Other advantages of recycling are to reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (as a result of incineration of waste) and water pollution (from landfilling).

TAILORED NANOMATERIALS

The nanotechnology revolution essentially consists of the ability to control material features on the nanometer length scale. However, to see the economic impact of these new abilities, the basic science of nanotechnology, particularly in the area’s that lead to practical production of useful products, requires continuous development and improvement.