SLIPS

SLIPS: Slippery surfaces for drag reduction

Principal Investigator: Dott.ssa Mariarosa Raimondo
Involved Personnel: Dott.ssa Federica Mancini, Dott. Massimiliano Dapporto 
Start Date: 30/11/2023
Duration: 24 months
Total Funding: 239 970,40 € (CUP D53D23018190001)
Call: PIANO NAZIONALE DI RIPRESA E RESILIENZA (PNRR) Missione 4 “Istruzione e Ricerca” – Componente C2 Investimento 1.1, “Fondo per il Programma Nazionale di Ricerca e Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN)” PRIN 2022 PNRR
Role of CNR-ISSMC: Partner
Coordinator: Prof. Alessandro Bottaro (Direttore del Dipartimento DICCA, Università di Genova)
Consortium: Politecnico di Bari (Prof.ssa Stefania Cherubini), Università degli studi di Genova (Prof. Alessandro Bottaro), CNR-ISSMC (Dott.ssa Mariarosa Raimondo)

SLIPS will leverage the complementary instruments and expertise of the three units to advance the understanding of the wall friction behavior of Slippery, Lubricant-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS). There are no clear guidelines for optimizing SLIPS for a given application, neither in terms of the microstructure/material of the porous matrix nor in terms of the properties of the most suitable lubricant. Additionally, SLIPS face challenges related to the lack of persistence of the “slip” effect over time. Therefore, a multidisciplinary effort has been conceived to address these aspects.

Objectives:

• Study the microscopic problem in the vicinity of SLIPS, taking into account capillary effects, to obtain high-order slip boundary conditions.
• Use advanced manufacturing technologies to develop hierarchically microstructured solid-liquid interfaces.
• Produce SLIPS through an innovative technique that couples lubricant-imbibed porogens, such as ceramic-based porous scaffolds (e.g., alumina, aluminosilicates), zeolite powders, with more conventional materials like PDMS.
• Test the developed materials through both electrochemical impedance and rheological measurements to evaluate the effectiveness in reducing friction and the durability of the coatings.
• Analyze the modal and non-modal stability of the flow over SLIPS coatings.
• Conduct direct numerical simulations of turbulent motion. The use of intelligently designed SLIPS should significantly influence the onset and development of small perturbations, as well as the developed turbulent flow, offering significant potential for friction reduction.

The multidisciplinary approach pursued aims to develop new and effective strategies for the design and production of durable SLIPS coatings over time.