3D-printing is becoming increasingly important in industrial manufacturing. It not only makes it possible to produce very complex shapes that would otherwise be virtually impossible to generate using conventional processes, but also enables small batch numbers to be produced on a cost-effective basis. However, up to now, the integration of electronic components and consequently, the production of customized sensors has presented a challenge. Now, together with the Baden-Württemberg-based companies ARBURG and Balluff, Fraunhofer IPA has achieved a breakthrough. Sensors in…

The research team of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Landshut University of Applied Sciences and Spiess Motorenbau GmbH is developing a new method to measure heat flows in combustion engines more quickly than before; a technique which is also relevant to the research into alternative fuels and fuels that contain hydrogen When we start a car engine, combustion gases with very high temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius are produced. When these hit the cylinder and piston walls,…

Photons trapped in a cavity can cause a crystal known as strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) to become ferroelectric, according to a new study by the MPSD’s theory group. The photons that are randomly created and destructed in the vacuum of a cavity – as determined by the laws of quantum mechanics – can significantly change the way the material’s electrons and atoms behave, as in the case of SrTiO₃. These theoretical predictions, now published in PNAS, demonstrate the great potential of…

From modern smartphones to televisions: organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are an emerging technology that promises, among other benefits, excellent image contrast and low power consumption. The complexity of an OLED pixel makes it difficult to design new molecular materials. Denis Andrienko, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and his team have now compared a wide range of computer-simulated and experimentally measured properties of OLED thin films, trying to understand whether OLED design can be guided solely…

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, supported by PSE Projects GmbH, has been publishing the PV Report on a regular basis for the past decade. The report contains a compilation of the most important facts on photovoltaics (PV) in Germany, the European Union and worldwide, documenting, in particular, the development of the photovoltaic market, solar cell and module efficiency as well as the prices over the last decades. The latest edition is freely available on the Fraunhofer ISE…

A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen has developed a hybrid additive manufacturing process that combines wire-based and powder-based laser cladding (LMD). The new process can be used to apply protective coatings of high-strength tool steel to workpieces and repair surface defects at low cost. The tool coatings produced in this way are more wear-resistant, resource-efficient and cost-efficient than those produced by other methods. Following successful test series with tool components, there are…

What happens when soft materials are compressed strongly? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamic and Self-Organization, the University of Twente and Cornell University now revealed the morphology of creases created upon folding at micrometer scale. They revealed a dual folding mechanism driven by capillary forces, similar to wetting liquids, causing a T-shape folding profile. The unfolding leaves behind a scar which serves as a nucleation point for subsequent folds. Without damaging the material, it thereby enables a freely…

Pitt civil engineers use Pittsburgh to create energy usage model in commercial buildings. The building sector in the U.S. accounts for 39 percent of energy use, with commercial buildings responsible for about half of that. As cities grapple with climate change, making commercial buildings more efficient is a key part of the solution. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation used the City of Pittsburgh to create a model built…

Göttingen University researchers create new kind of environmentally friendly bioplastic with hydroplastic polymers. Plastics offer many benefits to society and are widely used in our daily life: they are lightweight, cheap and adaptable. However, the production, processing and disposal of plastics are simply not sustainable, and pose a major global threat to the environment and human health. Eco-friendly processing of reusable and recyclable plastics derived from plant-based raw materials would be an ideal solution. So far, the technological challenges have…

The fully autonomous, mobile charging robot finds its way independently to the parked electric vehicle (EV) and supplies it with energy. The prototype developed by TU Graz and the Austrian companies ALVERI and ARTI Robots is intended to contribute to the widespread use of e-mobility. It sounds convenient. The EV reports the need for charging and a mobile robot sets out to supply the parked car with energy – completely independently and without human intervention. The search for a charging…

The valence of Mn changes from 4 to 3 under various conditions. Professor Hiromi Nakano of Toyohashi University of Technology used a material with a unique periodical structure (smart material: Li-M-Ti-O [M = Nb or Ta]) as a host material to synthesize new Mn4+-activated phosphors that exhibit red light emissions at 685 nm when excited at 493 nm. Because the valence of the Mn ions in the material changes from Mn4+ to Mn3+ according to the sintering temperature, composition, and…

Fraunhofer IWS evaluates thousand times faster beam shaping. Laser experts from Saxony and Israel are jointly testing a novel laser for industrial use at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden. The system is based on the “Coherent Beam Combining” (CBC) method, which is still new for high-power lasers. The 13-kilowatt laser can generate different energy distribution patterns particularly quickly during operation and thus process even demanding high-tech materials very precisely and quickly. The Fraunhofer researchers…

ASTM Awards Contract to Fraunhofer ILT. The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT has received an award for decades of development in the field of additive manufacturing: The Aachen-based institute won a competition conducted by ASTM International and is now working on a project towards standardization of machine condition monitoring in laser beam powder bed fusion (LB-PBF). It is focusing on selecting and qualifying imaging sensor technology that can be used to specifically monitor the condition of LB-PBF systems. Finally,…

The photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric crystals can be increased by a factor of 1,000 if three different materials are arranged periodically in a lattice. This has been revealed in a study by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). They achieved this by creating crystalline layers of barium titanate, strontium titanate and calcium titanate which they alternately placed on top of one another. Their findings, which could significantly increase the efficiency of solar cells, were published in the journal “Science…

A collaborative research team, led by the University of Liverpool, has discovered a new inorganic material with the lowest thermal conductivity ever reported. This discovery paves the way for the development of new thermoelectric materials that will be critical for a sustainable society. Reported in the journal Science, this discovery represents a breakthrough in the control of heat flow at the atomic scale, achieved by materials design. It offers fundamental new insights into the management of energy. The new understanding…

Placing a 2D Bose-Einstein condensate in the vicinity of a graphene layer confers superconductivity to the material. Superconductivity is a physical phenomenon where the electrical resistance of a material drops to zero under a certain critical temperature. Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory is a well-established explanation that describes superconductivity in most materials. It states that Cooper pairs of electrons are formed in the lattice under sufficiently low temperature and that BCS superconductivity arises from their condensation. While graphene itself is an excellent…