Press & Events

A discovery from 1917 becomes viable for the future. A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM is developing efficient magnetocaloric cooling systems that make do without harmful refrigerants. The esearchers hope to achieve 50 percent of the maximum efficiency level with their process. Comparable existing magnetocaloric systems reach only approximately 30 percent.

North Rhine-Westphalia has launched the NRW Leitmarkt project AddSteel, which is aimed at digitalizing the steel industry. Coordinated by SMS group GmbH, a plant engineering company based in Mönchengladbach, this three-year project will develop new function-adapted steel materials for additive manufacturing. One of the project’s key areas of focus is the qualification of the developed materials for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a metallic 3D printing process, at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen. One of the AddSteel project team’s first successes was the development of the first case-hardening and heat-treatable steel powders designed specifically for LPBF applications.

Prof. Christoph Leyens has been appointed Adjunct Professor at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada for his successful global commitment to Additive Manufacturing. At the beginning of this year, the Director of the Institute of Materials Science at TU Dresden and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS received the award of the same title from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

In the 70th year of its history, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is ideally positioned for the challenges of the future, a strategy it also demonstrated at LASER World of PHOTONICS, the world's leading photonics trade fair in Munich. The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, for example, presented state-of-the-art technology for quantum technologies, metallic 3D printing and electromobility.

On 10th July, the Hochschule Mannheim - University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST signed a cooperation agreement on the expansion of joint research activities in the field of tribology and surfaces. The Kompetenzzentrum Tribologie has been working closely with the Braunschweig institute since 2018 within the framework of the newly created DFG (German research foundation) priority program SPP2074 “Fluid-free lubrication systems”.

At this year’s 19th Fachtagung für Plasmatechnologie (plasma technology conference), which took place from 17th to 19th June in Cottbus, Prof. Dr. Claus-Peter Klages was awarded the Rudolf Seeliger Prize for his achievements in the field of plasma research.

On June 27th, stakeholders from industry, SME and research met at Europe’s largest event on laser-based manufacturing in Munich, the LASER World of PHOTONICS. More than 34.000 visitors from across Europe and abroad met to discover new devices and innovative solutions to advance their manufacturing challenges.

As part of the funding initiative "Organic Electronics - Fundamentals of Technology and Application Scenarios" the BMBF-funded research project "Transparent Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) glass façade” ended in December 2018 (project name: TOP). The aim of the joint project was to develop semi-transparent solar films with a transparency of 15 – 30% at an efficiency of 8 – 10% and a suitable encapsulation. The consortium consisted of the CreaPhys GmbH (Dresden), the Fraunhofer FEP (Dresden), the Fraunhofer ISE (Freiburg), the Heliatek GmbH (Dresden) and the University of Ulm.

Throughout his professional life, Prof. Reinhart Poprawe shaped technological progress in photonics and specifically built up the next generation of young talent for the industry. Now the laser visionary is retiring in the fall of 2019. At the symposium “Digital Photonic Production and Industrie 4.0 and what it means for education and research” 280 laser experts and companions paid tribute to his work as a professor of laser technology, his services in basic and contract research and in the networking of industry and science. The symposium took place on June 23, 2019 in the run-up to the world's leading trade fair LASER World of PHOTONICS in Munich.

The quality of additively manufactured components depends not only on the manufacturing process, but also on the inline process control. The process control ensures a reliable coating process because it detects deviations from the target geometry immediately. At LASER World of PHOTONICS 2019, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT will be demonstrating how well bidirectional sensor technology can already be used for Laser Material Deposition (LMD) in combination with commercial optics at booth A2.431.