Towards a manufacturing related description of bifunctional assemblies

Biological transformation unlocks untapped potential for innovative, high-value products. Bifunctional assemblies enable diverse functionalities through modular combinations of biobased modules and offer the potential for cost-efficient and environmentally friendly functionalization of components. Component functionalization can be applied in industries with high economic and technological potential and societal relevance. In medical technology, for example, bifunctional assemblies have the potential to apply an antimicrobial coating to implants to ward off bacterial contamination of the surface. At present bifunctional assemblies have not yet been used in manufacturing in a scalable manner. Therefore, it is not possible to exploit these potentials because, from a manufacturing technology perspective, bifunctional assemblies are a new class of materials and therefore pose new requirements for manufacturing technology. It is not sufficiently known which manufacturing technologies can apply bifunctional assemblies to components in a scalable manner, i.e. over large areas, homogeneously and in large quantities. To identify biocompatible manufacturing technologies potentially suitable for the application of bifunctional assemblies to components, a description model is needed that provides technology-related manufacturing requirements of bifunctional assemblies. This work contributes to the systematic identification and quantification of these technology-related manufacturing requirements.