Fraunhofer IWS Dresden spins off lasertech company A researcher team from industry and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS is spinning off a high-tech company called “Fusion Bionic”. The company aims to bring lotus effects and other functional microstructures from nature to technical surfaces such as air wings and implants using globally cutting-edge solutions for laser interference technology. The team received support from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s AHED project, which specializes in technology transfer. Modern light interference technologies in Dresden…

Japanese team forges path to new uses for terahertz waves … Japanese researchers successfully tested reflectionless, highly refractive index metasurface that may eventually be used in practical applications to send, receive, and manipulate light and radio waves in the terahertz waveband (THz). THz is measured in millionths of a meter, known as micrometers. The metasurface, an artificial two-dimensional flat material, was made of micro-sized cut metal wires of silver paste ink placed on both the front and back of a…

New case study shows potential for reducing CO₂ emissions. Geothermal energy as a sustainable energy source can make its own significant contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions in Germany. This is shown by a case study of the Kirchstockach power plant published by scientists at the Center for Energy Technology (ZET) at the University of Bayreuth in the journal “Renewable Energy”. Geothermal research at ZET is integrated into the Geothermal-Alliance Bavaria, which has been funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Science…

– a lightweight solution for battery electric vehicles. A cost-efficient lightweight battery housing for battery electric vehicles has been developed at Fraunhofer LBF. Using this, it is possible to achieve a 40 percent reduction in weight compared to an aluminum housing. Despite the application of fiber-reinforced plastic composites, component cost is low due to a specially developed, highly-efficient manufacturing process and a stress equivalent structural design. The mechanical properties were validated in the GHOST project funded by the European Commission…

Hydrogels merge two physical forms of the same seaweed material for strength, flexibility. 3D-printable gels with improved and highly controlled properties can be created by merging micro- and nano-sized networks of the same materials harnessed from seaweed, according to new research from North Carolina State University. The findings could have applications in biomedical materials – think of biological scaffolds for growing cells – and soft robotics. Described in the journal Nature Communications, the findings show that these water-based gels –…

Argonne scientists across several disciplines have combined forces to create a new process for testing and predicting the effects of high temperatures on refractory oxides. Cast iron melts at around 1,200 degrees Celsius. Stainless steel melts at around 1,520 degrees Celsius. If you want to shape these materials into everyday objects, like the skillet in your kitchen or the surgical tools used by doctors, it stands to reason that you would need to create furnaces and molds out of something that can withstand even…

As lightweight construction materials, fiber-reinforced polymers have the potential to improve the ecological footprint of ships. If the fibers and plastic matrix are based on renewable raw materials, the ecological footprint can be further reduced. Integrating these materials as structural components is not state of the art and requires new concepts in shipbuilding. These concepts will have to regard strict safety regulations and fire protection requirements applying to passenger ships. The aim of the “GreenLight” project is to develop bio-based…

With the currently adopted climate protection measures, Germany will neither achieve its previous, nor the more stringent European, climate protection targets in the building sector by 2050. Two roadmaps from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Öko-Institute and the Hamburg Institute show how this achievement, however, can be made possible. The research team presents the adequate measures and policy instruments with which decentralized heat generation no longer emits carbon dioxide, final energy consumption can be reduced, and…

A research team from the Skoltech Center for Design, Manufacturing and Materials (CDMM) studied the effects of processing additives – aluminum hydroxide and zinc stearate – on the polymerization kinetics of thermosets used in pultrusion. The research was published in the Journal of Composite Materials. Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) structural elements that have obvious advantages over conventional materials, such as steel, wood, and concrete, are widely used in civil, marine and road construction. FRP structures are manufactured using the pultrusion process,…

Researchers at TU Graz develop green alternatives to fossil raw materials. Bio-based materials are expected to reduce pollution and drive the shift to a more sustainable economy. As a renewable resource, wood offers great potential in the fight against the climate crisis. First, it sequesters large amounts of carbon (1 ton per cubic meter!). Moreover, it is an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil based resources, which cause the majority of greenhouse gas emissions. At the Institute of Bioproducts and Paper…

Using the smallest “construction set” in the world, a research team from the universities of Marburg, Giessen and Paderborn is designing new materials for computer chips, light-emitting diodes and solar cells. They are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair, and just a few atoms thick: two-dimensional materials are the thinnest substances it is possible to make today. They have completely new properties and are regarded as the next major step in modern semiconductor technology. In the future they could…

– that degrades on demand … This could result in battery production moving away from strategic elements like cobalt. The introduction of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has revolutionized technology as a whole, leading to major advances in consumer goods across nearly all sectors. Battery-powered devices have become ubiquitous across the world. While the availability of technology is generally a good thing, the rapid growth has led directly to several key ethical and environmental issues surrounding the use of Li-ion batteries. Current…

unibz contributes to the fight against microplastics … In 2017, the UN declared the presence of 51 trillion microplastic particles in the Earth’s seas: “500 times more numerous than all the stars in our galaxy”. A product invented and patented by Marco Caniato, a researcher and lecturer at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, has proved extremely promising in the battle against the environmental dispersion of microplastics. Secondary microplastics, i.e. plastic fragments of less than 5 mm in size resulting from…

– pave way for powering chip-sized optical systems. The field of photonics aims to transform all manner of electronic devices by storing and transmitting information in the form of light, rather than electricity. Beyond light’s raw speed, the way that information can be layered in its various physical properties makes devices like photonic computers and communication systems tantalizing prospects. Before such devices can go from theory to reality, however, engineers must find ways of making their light sources — lasers…

Hydrogen technology will also be used on rails in the future. In the future, regional trains will be equipped with fuel cells that convert oxygen and hydrogen into electrical energy. In its “Heat2Comfort” project, funded by the BMWI, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden is contrib-uting to this type of emission-free and low-noise mode of transport. Together with its partners, the Hörmann Vehicle Engineering GmbH, the Wärme-tauscher Sachsen GmbH as well as the Institute…

Silicon carbide power modules… If electric vehicles are to achieve greater distances, it’s not only a matter of optimizing their batteries. Instead, the entire power train has to be improved. A Fraunhofer team is therefore developing electronic control units, so-called power inverters, which convert the energy between battery and motor much more efficiently than is the case today. When it comes to an electric car’s range, many of us automatically think of the battery. The more energy a battery can…