New innovative and advanced materials are needed to develop robust, safe and cost-effective infrastructures for hydrogen distribution or storage. BYRON will focus on the fabrication of multilayered structures composed of two semi-crystalline polymers that can serve as innovative materials for polymer liners (or membranes) in high-pressure gaseous systems (tubes or type IV/type V pressure vessel). The use of an innovative layer-multiplying coextrusion process, specially designed for annular geometries like tubes, will allow the creation of a high number of alternating thin layers. The impact of this nanolayering on the crystalline structure will be characterized and correlated with hydrogen permeability and mechanical properties. The behavior of the multi-nanolayered structures will be investigated in conditions close to the actual working conditions of the hydrogen storage tank (effect of hydrogen exposure and high-pressures), using specific permeation equipment and mechanical tests. In particular, failure modes and sensitivity to blistering will be thoroughly studied. Finally, a numerical diffusion model will be developed in order to assess the impact of the geometrical parameters on the permeation and used as a predictive tool for guiding the development of optimized multilayered architectures.

Lightweight fibre-reinforced composites are a key technology for a sustainable society and have been largely employed in several industrial sectors: sport equipment, wind energy, automotive, aerospace and more. Their recent widespread adoption, however, was not matched by a similar advancement of technologies for their recycling and disposal. In the next three decades, between two and three million tons of composites waste are estimated to be produced globally. Landfilling or incinerating such an amount of material, as it is done today, would significantly compromise the fight against climate change. Future scientists and engineers will thus need to efficiently dispose of such waste in a sustainable way. FibReLoop thus aims to train 14 innovative researchers that: 1) have a multi-disciplinary background expertise on all circular economic aspects of fibre-reinforced composites; 2) are able to identify, develop and commercialise key technologies and research opportunities for the sustainable development of composite materials; 3) can communicate efficiently with industrial partners, academics, media, policy makers and the general audience. FibReLoop researchers will be supported by a holistic training programme, provided by the 6 academic and 8 industrial partners of the project. The researchers will be involved in all the phases of the recycling process of composite parts: i) the analysis and development of recycling techniques, ii) the material characterisation and modelling of the recycled composites and the reclaimed constituents, iii) the design of components made of recycled composites, iv) their industrial adoption and finally v) the life cycle assessment of recycling processes and recycled materials. Overall, FibReLoop scientific advancement will allow to fully contextualise fibre-reinforced composites in a circular economic framework, boosting EU’s innovation capabilities while also allowing it to achieve the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal.