Sustainable Act for Construction Market

Field investigations after moderate to major earthquakes consistently reveal poor seismic performance in structures that do not comply with modern codes. STF4SW develops a passive, robust and rate-adaptive damping technology that bridges this gap — turning a non-Newtonian fluid into a structural protector.

At the heart of the project is a custom polyboronsiloxane (PBS) based shear-thickening fluid. Under everyday vibrations the fluid behaves as a low-viscosity liquid; under seismic excitation it transitions to a near-solid jammed state, dramatically increasing the damper's resistance and absorbing energy.

Unlike conventional STFs engineered for ballistic, high shear-rate environments, the STF4SW formulation is tuned for the low shear-rate regime typical of multi-storey building responses (0.3–1.2 Hz, peak floor velocities below 1 m/s). Early high-rate direct shear tests have also revealed a remarkable self-healing behaviour — the fluid reconstitutes its microstructure after complete mechanical tearing.

The consortium combines KALEKIM's chemical-process know-how with the structural, experimental and numerical expertise of UPCE, CVUT, Červenka Consulting and TUCN — moving from TRL 2 toward a market-ready damper.