ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-11519
Open Date: 15/09/2022 11:53 CEST
Closing Date: 27/10/2022 13:00 CEST

Cr(VI) based conversion coatings were in the past the treatments of choice for aluminium alloys to prevent corrosion, and are widely used in the aerospace industry because of their good electrical conductivity and also due to the fact that they are good primers for paints and adhesives. In addition, the Secondary Emission Yield(SEY) properties make them an excellent coating for RF high peak power applications. However Hexavalent Chromium is harmful for human's health and for the environment. Thus, it needs to be replaced by more environmentally friendly materials. In addition, Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals policy (REACH) imposes strict limitation for the application of coatings based on Cr(VI) conversion.Several commercial alternatives are under evaluation at the moment. Though an adequate corrosion protection is provided by the novel alternatives, the performance regarding multipactor threshold cannot meet the expected values compared to the previous coatings based on Cr(VI) conversion (e.g. Alodine).This activity aims to develop a novel passivation process for metal parts with improved Secondary Electron Emission properties for RF high power applications. The coating shall be validated with dedicated test campaigns for the characterisation of material properties. The characterisation shall also cover thermal and high power tests (multipactor) in multiple coupons and RF samples. Ageing aspects shall be also considered.The activity encompasses the following tasks: - State of the art review of innovative passivation processes- Identification of the most promising passivation processes (at least four)- Test campaign at coupon level in order to optimise the processes (at least 2)- Test results evaluation and identification of preferred process- Prototype design, manufacturing and testing considering RF performance (including temperature) and multipactor- Conclusions and way forward.

Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. Quality
Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Authorised Contact Person: Maxime Nicolas Gislain Guy
Initiating Service: TEC-EFE
IP Measure: N/A
Prog. Reference: E/0901-01 - Technology Developme
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+GR+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 6-E-II-RF Equipment
Products Keywords: 2-L-1-a-Omnidirectional, Helix, Horn, Parabolic, Phased Arrays / Platform vs Payload / 2-L-1.1-a-Feeds / 2-L-2/3/4.1-f-Analog: Microwave generators / 4-B-2-a-Transmitter and Receiver assemblies, Frequency converters,...