Project Code: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-023497

Acronym: LightColorComposite

Project Title: Development of Advanced Composites for Urban Furniture with Interactivity, Durability, and Design Features

Project Type: SI R&D Individual

Duration (months): 24

Start Date: 01/09/2017

End Date: 31/08/2019

Promoter: Castros Iluminações Festivas S.A.

Partners: Fibrenamics | TecMinho

The LightColorComposite project, promoted by Castros Iluminações Festivas, is co-financed by Portugal 2020 and has Fibrenamics from the University of Minho as its scientific partner through the TecMinho interface.

This R&D project, promoted by Castros Iluminações in partnership with the international Fibrenamics platform at the University of Minho, aims primarily to develop advanced interactive polymer composites for urban furniture solutions, combining interactivity, durability, and design.

The project seeks, based on results already achieved, to develop composite materials with lighting capabilities and composites capable of altering their visual characteristics in response to external stimuli.

The first results have already been presented internationally to the scientific community through publications such as “Study of color changing in composite materials promoted by chromotropic pigments” at the conference MATERIAIS 2019, XIX Congress of the Portuguese Materials Society and X International Symposium on Materials held in Lisbon from April 14–17, and other international conferences such as AUTEX 2019 – 19th World Textile Conference: Textiles at the Crossroads in Ghent, Belgium from June 11–15, and more recently at ICNF 2019 – 4th International Conference on Natural Fibers from July 1–3 in Porto, Portugal.

Regarding demonstrators, 11 prototypes were developed using composites of fiberglass or natural fiber composites:

Fiberglass Composite Panel Prototypes

• With electroluminescent source coating

• With photochromic pigment load

• With thermochromic pigment load

• With opaque white pigment load

• With translucent blue pigment load

• With PMMA light guide inside and LED source for rimlight effect

• With embedded LED source for RGB backlight effect

• With embedded LED source for white backlight effect

• With LED source for rimlight effect

Natural Fiber Composite Panel Prototypes

• With embedded electroluminescent wire source

• With embedded LED source for white backlight effect