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In the course of the digital revolution, numerical simulation and calculation methods are taking on a decisive role in all product lifecycle stages. In order to develop structurally relevant products for the automotive and aerospace industries as well as for medical and energy technologies, it is necessary to have a holistic strategy with particularly close inter¬linking between virtual and real worlds.

Fuses, modules and interconnect cables are widely used in many different technical environments – applications range from inside conventional control cabinets to space. While the automation degree in fabricating various technical components is increasing, wiring remains a laborious and error-prone manual process. Researchers at Fraunhofer IWS, together with partners such as AIRBUS, are developing processes to manufacture conductive paths in a cost-efficient and safe manner.

Many people associate steel construction technology with manual welding and glaring arcs. In order to manufacture large-scale, highly stressed steel structures such as overhead cranes or wind turbine towers in line with high quality standards, exten¬sive technical expertise and efficient processes are required. High-energy, modern joining processes such as laser beam welding will revolutionize steel construction in the coming years. A research project conducted over the past 2.5 years on low-distortion and low-energy laser beam welding for thick-walled steel structures follows precisely this goal.

Already in the early stages of component development, standardized characteristic values are indispensable for the selection of materials. However, as development advances, focus shifts to application-oriented load scenarios. At Fraunhofer IWS, these scenarios can be transformed into individual test procedures by directly linking process knowledge and material understanding.

The new material class of high-entropy alloys (HEA) promises many innovations in aviation, turbine and tool construction as well as other industries. Testing the countless variations in the chemical composition of this material class would require research and development lasting thousands of years. Researchers at Fraunhofer IWS have further enhanced methods for material design that will enormously accelerate this work.

The electrification of municipal vehicles is increasing the demand for ultra-light truck bodies to compensate additional battery weight. An adapted multi-material lightweight construction based on fiber-reinforced semi-finished plastic products and aluminum structures facilitates the cost-effective production of lightweight containers in small series. In this context, the type of joining technology plays a particularly important role.

The increasing electrification of mobility also affects aviation. The battery is both a key technology and a bottleneck for all electrical flight applications. Its own weight significantly limits the range and payload of the aircraft.

In the "ESDBond" project, the Kunststoff-Zentrum (SKZ) and Fraunhofer IWS successfully modified flexible electrically conductive adhesives and potting compounds to dissipate electrostatic charges. In this process, they achieved significant reductions in electrical volume resistance by adding smallest amounts of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Based on these results, the follow-up project "carBONDshield" is investigating possibilities for using such modified systems for electromagnetic shielding.

In recent years, extensive development work has revealed the potential of thermal spraying with fine powder suspensions with particle sizes in the sub-micrometer and nanometer range. Suspension spraying enables the fabrication of tailored coatings in which layer thicknesses, morphology and properties can be varied over an extremely extensive application range.

Today, new coatings on brake discs meet increasingly complex requirements. Conventionally, a destructive metallographic cross-section is used to check their quality. This method is expensive, slow and resource-intensive. Fraunhofer IWS researchers have now demonstrated that a fast and non-destructive evaluation can also be achieved using the LAwave^® method.