Movero project completed at Münster University of Applied Sciences
Whether supermarket basket or shopping cart: hardly anything gets stuck. And that is intentional. The handles on our rolling helpers are often antibacterial. Only a few bacteria remain on them when: we grab them with our hands or push the trolley.
This is only possible because the surface of the handles is particularly functionalized. "Functionalized means that we specifically change surface properties," explains Jürgen Gröninger, research associate at the Laser Center at Münster University of Applied Sciences. And as there are so many surfaces with so much potential these days, research into how and with which technologies surfaces can be modified is in full swing worldwide. This is also the case at Münster University of Applied Sciences, where the German-Dutch Interreg-funded Movero project has now come to an end.
Movero stands for the "use and further development of modern surface structuring processes for interdisciplinary applications in regional industry". In concrete terms, this means that over a period of more than three years, ten companies from a wide range of sectors and researchers from Münster University of Applied Sciences and the University of Twente have compiled, thought through, tested and further developed ideas for surface treatment and, above all, functionalization. "We have been researching how we can process the surfaces with various technologies, especially lasers and embossing processes, so that they have certain properties. For example, that films can conduct light, that they are dirt-repellent and water-repellent, that implants repel or attract bacteria," explains Gröninger. The results include reflector films: they can simply be stuck onto the solar modules on the roof and thus increase the efficiency of the system by increasing the light yield.
Other key areas of work included optical microstructures, soft-touch structures - the aim here was to adapt the surface haptics, for example to ensure that the wood look also feels like wood - antibacterial surface structures, structured metal surfaces to generate biomedical effects and structured polymer surfaces with a self-cleaning function.
"The project is right on the pulse of the times," says Marco Smarra, also a research associate at the Laser Center. "Companies are receiving requests from customers in droves, and it's always about surfaces. With Movero, we have pooled our expertise and opened up new, potential applications." However, it was also about raising awareness in the region of the potential that lies dormant in the functionalization of surfaces. The project partners were: Münster University of Applied Sciences, TAFH Münster GmbH, DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems e. V., Schepers GmbH & Co KG, Saueressig GmbH & Co KG, Universiteit Twente, Irmato, Kamp Coating Apeldoorn BV, Materiomics, Morphotonics B.V., Duropanel BV, FMI Industrial Automation B.V. and ECM Technologies BV.
