Innovative Materials: Over One Million Euros Awarded to the University of Bologna for Spoke 11 Projects at the MOST Centre

The University of Bologna has successfully participated in 6 out of 7 Proof of Concept (PoC) and Scalability Grants (SG) projects in the first edition of calls promoted by Spoke 11 "Innovative Materials & Lightweighting" at the National Center for Sustainable Mobility (MOST), funded by the PNRR, leading 3 of these projects. In the second edition, among the 7 approved projects, 1 is coordinated by the University of Bologna, and researchers from Unibo's Spoke are involved in 3 others. The leaders of 3 out of the 5 projects coordinated by the University of Bologna, approved in the first and second rounds, are young researchers specifically hired to develop research activities within Spoke 11. Overall, these calls have provided a budget of over one million euros for the University of Bologna.

Spoke 11 of the MOST centre is coordinated by the University of Bologna, with Professor Lorella Ceschini from the Department of Industrial Engineering (DIN) as the point of reference. The goal of Spoke 11 is to identify innovative or alternative materials to traditional ones to achieve vehicle weight reduction, with a particular focus on sustainability, recyclability, and reuse. The research work also centres on implementing more efficient production processes, respecting the rules of Life Cycle Assessment, and developing design methodologies based on structural optimization aimed at weight reduction (eco-design). In this context, the Proof of Concept calls fund the creation of prototypes useful for verifying the feasibility of research results towards the market. The Scalability calls fund projects designed to facilitate the scalability of research and demonstrate increased technological maturity of the results.

The projects coordinated by Unibo are: PoC ALCOM (ALuminum alloy COmponents produced by additive Manufacturing: improvement of performance by multilayer coatings, Prof. Lavinia Tonelli, DIN Department), SG R-ECOCAR (Renewable Composite Solutions for Solar-Powered Cars, Prof. Emanuele Maccaferri, Department of Industrial Chemistry - Toso Montanari), PoC OPTIFIBERS (Optimized Structures through Additive Manufacturing with Continuous Carbon Fibers, Prof. Giangiacomo Minak, DIN Department), SG REOBTAIN (Reusing Exhausted Vegetable Oils for Lubricating Bolts and Threaded Joints in the Automotive Industry, Prof. Mattia Mele, DIN Department) The last project is A GREEN WAVE, led by Prof. Giangiacomo Minak (DIN Department).