Press releases 2021

Scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS at Dresden in cooperation with partners from research and industry are planning to create a virtual materials expert system. This system will offer interfaces to publicly available know-how such as the latest scientific papers on materials and relevant standards as well as the practical knowledge of experts. The artificial assistant will provide this accumulated expertise to its human colleagues – thus taking work in materials testing and metallography laboratories to a completely new level.

Eco-friendly flying is on the horizon. All over the world, researchers are developing new technologies to achieve this goal. One focus of developments is the idea of using hydrogen-powered engines for aircraft in the future. The aircraft companies, though, face the challenge of storing this energy source. Hydrogen turns liquid when cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius, and only then can it be used as a so-called cryogenic fuel. Both tanks and pipe systems in the aircraft have to be absolutely tight at such low temperatures. An innovative new welding process can help to fulfill these requirement: magnetic pulse welding. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have now demonstrated that this joining technology can produce extremely resilient, metallic mixed joints for cryogenic applications. They successfully achieved these outstanding joint properties in cooperation with the Technical University of Munich.

Microlaunchers are an alternative to conventional launch vehicles. Able to carry payloads of up to 350 kilograms, these midsized transport systems are designed to launch small satellites into space. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden and TU Dresden’s aerospace experts developed an additively manufactured rocket engine with an aerospike nozzle for microlaunchers. The scaled metal prototype is expected to consume 30 percent less fuel than conventional engines. It will be presented at the “Hannover Messe 2021 Digital Edition” from April 12 through 16, 2021.

All over the world, researchers are focusing on protecting organic light-emitting diodes, solar cells and circuits against humidity and other harmful environmental impacts by using improved foils. The idea is to make organic electronics components more robust and thus more durable. At the “LOPEC” trade fair in March 2021, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden is presenting a concept that will, in future, check the quality of these barrier foils during production – until now these analyses have required up to several weeks. The new Fraunhofer IWS system is based on hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence (AI).

Service robots can help ensure that buildings and means of transport are cleaned and disinfected regularly and with consistently high quality. Since October 2020, twelve institutions of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have been working on the development of new technologies for this field of application. Led by Fraunhofer IPA, the partners are pooling their expertise in the “Mobile Disinfection" (MobDi) research project to contribute to a safe “New Normal” in times of pandemic. The project is part of the »Fraunhofer vs. Corona« action program.

The Europe-wide research initiative coordinated by Infineon Technologies AG aims to improve the reliability and performance of electronic systems and microelectronic components. Fraunhofer Appli-cation Center for Optical Metrology and Surface Technologies (AZOM), the Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau (WHZ) and the Research and Transfer Center (FTZ) are the Zwickau partners in the collaboration.