Repairtecture

To overcome these challenges, there is a strong need for affordable, simple, and high-quality repair solutions for polymer-based components, often the weakest link in products. These polymers are commonly used as bonding elements (structural adhesives) for components made of different materials. Additionally, new concepts are required to encourage circular consumer behavior regarding the long-term use of products such as electronics or optical components. 

Repairtecture pursues an ambitious and highly interdisciplinary research program to meet these challenges. The project focuses on developing new cross-linked polymers that can:

1. repair damage at the molecular level, 

2. reversibly adapt their viscoelastic properties to repair macroscopic damage, 

3. change their adhesion properties in a controlled manner to enable repair and reprocessing of bonded multi-material structures. 

The solutions developed in Repairtecture lay the foundation for innovative installation and easy disassembly strategies, new modular design guidelines, easy-to-use repair/overhaul processes for structural and functional polymer-based products, and lower costs. Repairtecture's unique approaches cover the entire value chain and life cycle of polymer products in existing and future industries. 

The consortium driving this project combines the expertise of 8 scientific and 11 corporate partners, including globally recognized universities, and aims at taking an international leadership position in this emerging field of research. Repairtecture seeks to initiate a fundamental scientific and technological change in the field of repairable and refurbished polymer components, combining environmental sustainability with economic efficiency in repair and reprocessing. 

Examples of potential applications include:

1. Multi-component lighting systems (e.g., in the automotive sector),

2. Personalized healing aids (e.g., orthoses),

3. Bonded structural parts in automotive and aerospace industries,

4. "Ready-to-repair" electronic components,

5. Structural adhesives for controlled disassembly processes.

Our role in this project is to assess the sustainability and potential for circularity of selected products using these newly developed repairable structures. This will be done through the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Circularity Assessment (CA) methods. The LCA will evaluate the environmental impacts at each stage of the product's life cycle—material extraction, production, use, repair, recycling, and end-of-life disposal. Furthermore, through the CA, we will analyze how effectively the materials and components can be reused, repaired, refurbished, or recycled, ultimately contributing to a circular economy.

These assessments will help quantify the effects of using repairable materials and structures on a product's lifecycle and identify areas for improvement to enhance sustainability and circularity. The results of this research aim at guiding design improvements, material choices, and policy recommendations, supporting the development of more sustainable and circular repairable structures, and ultimately helping to close the material loop in alignment with the broader goals of achieving a sustainable circular economy.