The Central Electro-Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) at Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, one of the 38 Government-owned research laboratories under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is getting assignments from a marquee customer — Boeing. Boeing approached CECRI four years ago after seeing a research paper by S Mohan, chief scientist. The aircraft manufacturer asked CECRI to develop an electrolyte for chrome-plating to replace the toxic electrolyte it was using. “It took us three years to develop it,” said Mohan, who developed for Boeing a ‘trivalent electrolyte’ which is more benign than the toxic ‘hexavalent’ form. The project was completed recently. CECRI and Boeing jointly own the patents. Since then, Boeing has given four such assignments to the institute. “Right now, four such jobs are underway,” Mohan told BusinessLine. One is for developing a ‘smart paint’ with self-healing properties. “If a scratch occurs, the first instance of corrosion triggers an ‘inhibitor’ in the paint which spreads itself and repairs the scratch, said Mr S Sathiyanarayanan, senior principal scientist, at Karaikudi. Another one is a corrosion data-base for various alloys used in aerospace. Boeing will give the alloys, and CECRI will test it for various corrosion parameters. It will then hand over the data to the aircraft major. The job which began in 2015 is in its third phase. “Every year, they give us about 20 samples,” Mr Sathiyanarayanan said. The other assignments are for fabricating special alloys using 3D printing technology and testing them for corrosion properties; and developing a ‘wash primer’, a thin coat for steel surfaces. All these assignments might earn CECRI about ₹2-3 crore, but the institute is happy to have a high-profile company among its customers.
Others follow
Two other global biggies have followed Boeing in giving assignments to CECRI — Airbus and Applied Materials. CECRI refused to comment because of non-disclosure agreements. But it is learnt that these projects have just been received. CECRI has also developed a process for Tata Steel to recover tin from slag from its steel plants. Principle John Berchmans who handled the project said that while a kg of tin costs ₹1,400, recovering the metal with CECRI’s process costs ₹300 a kg. It is learnt that Tata Steel is now considering putting up a pilot project for this purpose.
Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com
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