Sustainable aircraft circular design and additive manufacturing, towards a climate neutral aviation

This Destination addresses activities that improve the climate and environmental footprint, as well as competitiveness, of different transport modes.

The areas of rail and air traffic management will be addressed through dedicated Institutional European Partnerships and are therefore not included in this document.

This Destination contributes directly to the Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations ‘Green transition’, ‘Digital transition’ and ‘A more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe’.

In line with the Strategic Plan, the overall expected impact of this Destination is to contribute to the ‘Achieving sustainable and competitive transport modes’.

The main impacts to be generated by topics under this Destination are:

Zero-emission road transport

1. Accelerated uptake of a zero-tailpipe emission ecosystem, with interoperable technological solutions developed at system level (vehicles, infrastructure, user and energy grid) that support the global competitiveness of the EU transport and mobility system.
2. Zero-tailpipe emission mobility solutions developed that are affordable, efficient, user-friendly, inclusive, safe and circular with concepts and technologies that are easy to deploy, considering needs, behaviours and socio-economic conditions of all end-users.
3. Clean mobility solutions for a climate neutral and environmentally friendly and zero pollution mobility with a higher level of circularity;
4. Increased responsiveness of zero tailpipe emission vehicles and systems to diverse societal interests and concerns.

Aviation

1. Enable breakthrough technologies and innovations that will contribute to the design (addressing also eco-design and circularity principles), manufacturing, maintenance and operations of new generation aircrafts, also powered by renewable energy and sustainable aviation fuels, for a competitive and clean EU aviation ecosystem (including airports).
2. Derisk and accelerate the introduction of new digital technologies (with emphasis on AI) at all levels in the industrial aviation ecosystem, while addressing all safety-related issues in collaboration with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Waterborne transport

1. Higher autonomy range in electric and hybrid vessels.
2. Uptake of renewable and low carbon fuels and improved knowledge on the suitability of innovative renewable and low carbon fuels and other energy carriers for waterborne transport.
3. Support the objectives of the European Port Strategy and Waterborne Industrial Strategy, contributing the role of ports as energy hubs, improving efficiency and safety through digitalization, improving the resilience and security of the transport network, as well as increasing the competitiveness of the industrial and technology EU capabilities.
4. Significant reduction of emissions from large vessels due to the merging of energy efficiency and renewable and low carbon fuels.
5. Sustainability of waterborne transport by design, considering air and water pollution, circularity and life-cycle assessments in shipbuilding.
6. Improved safety of seafarers, port workers and the environment.

Transport-related environment and health

1. The better monitoring of the environmental performance and enforcement of emissions regulation and biodiversity protection in order to reduce the overall environmental impact of transport (e.g.: as regards biodiversity, noise, pollution and waste) on human health and ecosystems.

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to both of the following expected outcomes:

• Additive manufacturing including high performance polymers, composites and metals, offering significantly improved performance compared to state-of-the-art. Entire process including design / manufacturing / characterization and testing / certification.
• Sustainable aircraft circular design and manufacturing processes of individual high-value components towards further developing the innovation pipeline from system demonstration to deployment stage in the EU and Associated Countries.

Scope:

This topic focuses on:

• Additive design and manufacturing of aircraft and engine structural components have already transformed the industry and are expected to be the key to the EU competitiveness. Geopolitical aspects for raw materials reinforce the importance of additive manufacturing, while the European RTOs and industry recognised that there is a substantial untapped potential towards even higher energy efficiency, savings in critical raw materials and higher quality parts. The main objective of this topic is to resolve existing challenges in the AD/AM of metal, high performance/value polymer and composite parts, related to residual stresses, non-equilibrium phase transformations, joining, defects and reproducibility among others.
• Building on previous research efforts (i.e. H2020-SUSTAINair) and EREA’s Future Sky initiatives on circular aviation, proposals should focus to real, challenging and competitive industrial use cases for circular design of individual components, joining technologies, improved maintenance and repair technologies to extend aircraft lifetime and improved recovery of high-quality recycling materials. Especially as regards engines and safety critical systems, real-time condition monitoring and inspection methods have the potential to improve repairability by determining an optimized degradation status, allowing smart repairs on-wing and on-site that reduce or postpone the need for material- and energy-intense overhauls or replacements.