Conventional technologies for new and eco-friendly products.
oday, research in conventional technologies is mainly focused on new and eco friendly products capable to reduce energy consumption, to increase life cycle of products, as well as decreasing pollution by means of using recycling materials.
This sub line has been working since almost fifteen years ago developing different projects with very different Spanish companies. In the last five years this sub line has been mainly financed by means of the Spanish Industry.
Research has been mainly carried out in vitreous materials with special characteristics developed for traditional (frits, enamels, floor tiles, etc.) and advanced applications (solar glasses, eco friendly pigments, etc.), for obtaining new coatings to decrease the energy consumption, surface cleaning for example and, in composite materials in which the use of recycled materials as well as decreasing of waste were the main objectives.
On the other hand, this sub line has also carried out basic research in order to develop new materials like silicon oxycarbide materials by means of the sol-gel method and modify and characterize the surface energy of different materials. A lot of processes are produced by means of surface reactions. Then the knowledge of the surface (energy, nanoroughness, surface active sites, etc.) should give enough information in order to design both new materials and industrial processes. Modification of the surface has been carried out by means of design of products at molecular level such as sol-gel process as well as hybrid materials.