Development of novel and cost-effective coatings for high-energy processing applications

2026-07-22

"The FORGE project has been specified as necessary by our energy-intensive industrial members, who, in order to intensify and update their future processes, need to improve equipment capability to withstand corrosion, erosion and brittle failures from gas collection and kiln operations, to maintain the equipment’s up-time and production efficiency. Current materials used in these exceptionally harsh environments, (and the corresponding design models) are not capable of robustly resisting degradation, leading to the constant need to inspect and repair damage. The FORGE project will train a machine-learning model to guide high-throughput experiments, to develop novel high performance coatings of targeted “Compositionally Complex Alloys"" and Ceramic counterparts, to be applied to the key specified vulnerable process stages (eg CO2 capture and waste heat recovery pipework, heat exchangers, kiln refractories) in response to the specific degradation forces we find at each point. We will also capture the underlying principles of the material resistance, to proactively design the equipment for performance while minimising overall capex costs from these new alloys. The FORGE consortium has industrial user members from steel, cement, aluminium and ceramic industries and specialist materials, to ensure the project's focus on real-world issues, coupled with world-leading experience in the development of materials, protective coatings and their application to harsh environments. In addition to developing the new coating materials and techniques, we also aim to provide a new overarching set of design paradigms and generate an underpinning Knowledge Based System to inform this and future work in other energy intensive industries."

Italy, Türkiye, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, France

2026-03-01