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Overall
Overall strategy of the work plan
The NANOFORART project will be articulated into eight work-packages (WPs) that will cover a three years period.
The first part of the project will aim at developing engineered nanomaterials and technologies optimized for the preservation and conservation of movable and immovable artworks, while the second part will focus on transferring technology results to SMEs and end users (museums, restorers) for upscale and dissemination activities.
The work plan will start with design and formulation of nanostructured systems with special functionalities (WP1) such as deacidification of movable artworks (paper, parchment, canvas, leather), cleaning of movable artworks (paper, parchment, canvas paintings), protection of movable artworks (paper, canvas), consolidation of immovable artworks (wall-paintings, plaster and stones), and cleaning of immovable artworks (wallpaintings, plaster and stones). These systems, whose formulation will be optimized according to their functions, will include microemulsions, micellar solutions, gels and dispersions of different kinds of nanoparticles. A physico-chemical characterization of the developed materals (WP2) will constantly support the formulation activity. This will allow to understand and control the nature of interaction mechanisms between these nanostructures and the target substances/supports.
Assessment of the applicability of materials (WP3) will start in the second half of the first year. In this phase the up-scale of the technologies from the laboratory to the market level will be tackled. All the partners will interact in order to clarify and merge the priority from all the points of view. Evaluation of possible human health effects and environmental impacts of developed nanomaterials for restoration (WP7) will also start in the second half of the first year. Special emphasis will be given to potential hazardousness of nanoparticles used for design and formulation of nanostructured systems, as well as environmental impacts associated with the use of these nano-based products.
Nanotechnology developed by NANOFORART will aim also to significantly reduce the use of harmful solvents, as well as to introduce new environmentally friendly nanomaterials. Once the applicability and safety of the developed materials will be assessed, the development of industry process (WP4, WP5) will start in order to transfer technology on the market by the standardization of the applicative protocols and production of the nanomaterials on medium and large scale. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) partners will have their main competence in this phase, that should start at the beginning of the second year. Safety and health risks of the industry processes will be also assessed. At the end of the first year, a study of the long-term behavior of the products and of the treated works of art (WP6) will be started by means of artificial ageing, in order to avoid damages due to unforeseen phenomena. The partners will have their main competence in ageing, monitoring of environmental pollution, and control of exhibitions and museums conditions.
The formulation, characterization, applicability assessment, health evaluation, industrial upscale and long-term behavior work-packages will cooperate interactively. Dissemination of the developed technologies and training activities (WP8) will start after the first six months, and progressively develop through the project timing. In this phase end users (museums, restoration public and private bodies) will be active in education and training activities as well as in the final refinement of technology. The financial management of the project will be covered by a specifically dedicated workpackage (WP9) that will cover the whole 3 years period, in order to efficiently control and manage the resource committing. It will also include Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.
Finally, coordination of all the RTD activities (WP10) will cover the whole project period, and will include the monitoring of the scientific and technical progress of the entire project, and the supervision of the achieved milestones. The RTD coordination will be organized by the Project coordinator (CSGI), which will be responsible for the technical management. An advisory committee will be created in order to assess the project progress and results. The committee will participate to meetings between partners and coordinator, and will monitor the development of the different phases of the project. The committee will be formed by four external members, including a humanist conservator expert, a scientific expert for restoration applicability assessment and an educational expert for dissemination, training and educational issues.