Projects

Up to 30 percent of energy can be saved if heating processes in industrial furnaces are controlled with pinpoint accuracy. Here, monitoring the process gases is a key to the energy turnaround in manufacturing technology.

Natural fiber-reinforced plastics are already used in automotive construction, but mostly with a plastic matrix based on crude oil. Although this enables lightweight construction, there is still potential for optimization in terms of resource utilization and recirculation. In the German-Brazilian project BestBioPLA, new plastics are therefore being developed that combine good mechanical and chemical resistance during the product life with biodegradability as an option for the end of the product life. The biobased content in the polymer development should be as high as possible.

Experts at Fraunhofer IFAM have published the new study "Circular Economy and Adhesive Bonding Technology". It comprehensively describes the role of adhesive bonding technology in the context of the circular economy and life cycle assessments across all industries and places it in the political framework from a global and European perspective. The study thus addresses the increasing importance of material developments and bonding technologies with the aim of saving resources and avoiding a linear economy in various industries.

Thanks to their lightweight construction potential, fiber composites can make a significant contribution to avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. A newly developed advanced training course within the framework of the "Composite Engineer" course focuses on ecological and economic aspects of sustainability even during production. Moreover, it teaches suitable methods for designing production systems sustainably and comparing them in an evaluative manner. Participants learn about the approach and challenges of life cycle assessment, process chain planning and factory layout planning for lightweight construction-oriented process chains.

They are light, stiff and break-resistant and can be used as lightweight materials in applications ranging from wind energy to aerospace – fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs). Once they have been shaped, depending on the plastic used, they can no longer be reshaped and returned to the material cycle. In the DuroCycleFVK project, researchers at Fraunhofer IFAM develop novel polymers for FRPs, which combine the desired properties of thermoplastics and thermosets and enable new and more energy-efficient manufacturing, shaping, and recycling processes for FRPs.