International. A new coating that reduces fuel consumption and friction using microparticles that mimic the properties of shark skin is being tested by commercial airline Lufthansa in Europe as part of the CleanSky project.
The system known as riblet is composed of small particles with sharp tips and small microscopic slits that reduce resistance to friction, generating an aerodynamic effect that improves the flow of aircraft and generates savings of up to 2% in fuel, with the consequent reduction of CO2 emissions.
"The potential is considerable to reduce in the long term, not only fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, but also to take care of resources and the environment," said project manager Christof Ickstadt, who also said that the "ribs" that make up the coating are smaller than the diameter of a human hair .
Ickstadt, a member of the German Fraunhofer institute that developed the project for Airbus Operations, reported that the use of microparticles is new and required several years of research, since the variations in temperature and UV radiation to which aeronautical coatings are subjected during a flight end up generating rapid wear.
The coating will be tested on different flights over Asia for twelve months to evaluate possible wear and tear according to the weather conditions reported by the pilots. If the wear is kept within pre-established limits and the microstructure is preserved for an extended period of time, lufthansa Technik will order its industrialized manufacturing.
