SMARTGLASS: photonics-based Sustainable Manufacturing of Abrasion-ResistanT, Anti-Reflective GLASS

To offer an environmentally-friendly laser-based solution for surface-treatment.

EUROPEAN CHALLENGES

Environmental sustainability and energy efficiency are two major concerns for the European Union. Technological innovation, particularly in the field of photonics, seems to offer a solution to these current and future challenges. A solution that also aims to boost the European Union's economic competitiveness.

FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION

SMARTGLASS's goal is to offer an environmentally-friendly laser-based solution for surface-treatment for abrasion-resistant anti-reflective (ARAR) glass products towards EU leading markets such as automotive and lighting. By studying the latest innovations on Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP) techniques, the alternative proposed by SMARTGLASS will drastically reduce waste, use of ressources and energy.

ALPhANOV'S ROLE

ALPhANOV experience on technology transfer and laser processing industrialization will ensure the employment of systems and devices developed within SMARTGLASS project, through industrial integration and emplementation of a scale-up manufacturing approach to match the final industry specifications and to push the industrial readiness of the proposed technologies.

In strong collaboration with Biomimetic, ALPhANOV will work on several implementation steps:

- Establish a specific experimental setup to perform DLIP processing on the selected glass substrates. This setup will include a laser source capable of generating high-quality beams, optical elements for beam shaping and focusing, and a precision positioning system for accurate substrate manipulation.

- Explore opportunities to scale up the process throughput and integrate the techniques into industrial manufacturing processes.

THE PARTNERS

FUNDERS

Project starting date : 10/01/2023