Press releases 2021

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  • World first: Fraunhofer IWS for the very first time prints quadrupole components for linear accelerators / 2021

    Additively manufactured copper components for linear accelerators

    Press release (Nr. 18) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / November 02, 2021

    © Christoph Wilsnack/Fraunhofer IWS

    A new generation of particle accelerators aims at taking cancer therapy, drug detection and material analysis to a higher level: These linear accelerators are so compact that they are becoming affordable even for smaller hospitals, airports and laboratories. To support this development, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, together with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland, Latvia's Riga Technology University (RTU) and Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi), is focusing on laser-based 3D printing: As part of the I.FAST project, aimed at enhancing innovation in accelerator and co-funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, researchers succeeded for the very first time worldwide to additively manufacture essential quadrupole components for linear accelerators from pure copper.

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  • ”Prometheus” and “Chephren”: Fraunhofer IWS works on machines that barely lose energy in the form of waste heat / 2021

    Superlubricity eliminates friction in engines

    Press release (No. 17) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / October 12, 2021

    © Jürgen Jeibmann/Fraunhofer IWS Dresden

    Nearly frictionless motors and gearboxes shall ensure electric bicycles with greater range on a single battery charge as well as industrial machines with significantly lower power consumption in form of friction and waste heat. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden is collaborating with industry and research partners in the joint projects “Prometheus” and “Chephren”. The researchers want to significantly improve the energy and eco balance of cars and other engines or machines through improved superhard carbon coatings.

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  • Filter solutions for high technology processes / 2021

    Clean air at all times

    Press release (Nr. 16) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden  / October 01, 2021

    © Jürgen Jeibmann/Fraunhofer IWS

    Metal processing with lasers and plasma releases many different pollutants into the ambient air. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, together with partners, has developed a filter system that efficiently removes these substances from the air. The filter can be adapted to the various materials and substances released in each case. In the future, the technology will be used in other applications, such as additive manufacturing.

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  • Sustainable battery production / 2021

    Environmentally friendly manufacture of battery electrodes

    Press release (Nr. 15) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / September 01, 2021

    © Fraunhofer IWS

    Conventional processes for manufacturing battery electrodes involve mostly toxic solvents and require a lot of space and energy. This is not the case with DRYtraec® – a new dry-coating process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS. The technology is environmentally friendly and cost effective and can be used on a large scale, giving it the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing of battery electrodes.

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  • BMBF project “SoLiS” explores innovative lithium-sulfur battery concepts / 2021

    Solid-state battery to leap into industrial application

    Press release (Nr. 14) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / August 05, 2021

    Sulfur, with its high storage capacities and low material costs, will serve as the core element of a promising solid-state battery concept that the five project partners of “SoLis” intend to transfer into industrial application.
    © Fraunhofer IWS

    The research project “SoLiS – Development of Lithium-Sulfur Solid State Batteries in Multilayer Pouch Cells”, which started in July 2021, aims to transfer a promising battery concept from basic research into an industrial application. Thanks to high storage capacities and low material costs of sulfur, this cell technology potentially enables the construction of very lightweight and cost-effective batteries. Under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding five partners from science and industry with a total of nearly 1.8 million euro. The research results could, for example, enable applications in electric aviation.

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  • Fraunhofer IWS evaluates thousand times faster beam shaping / 2021

    Flexible fiber laser for rapid material processing

    Press release (Nr. 13) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / July 21, 2021

    The “Dynamic Beam” laser from Jerusalem has now been installed at Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden. The institute is thus the first research institution worldwide to utilize such a laser solution.
    © René Jungnickel/Fraunhofer IWS

    Laser experts from Saxony and Israel are jointly testing a novel laser for industrial use at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden. The system is based on the “Coherent Beam Combining” (CBC) method, which is still new for high-power lasers. The 13-kilowatt laser can generate different energy distribution patterns particularly quickly during operation and thus process even demanding high-tech materials very precisely and quickly. The Fraunhofer researchers intend to make the innovative laser technology from Israel available to companies worldwide in the near future. Within a European network project, Fraunhofer IWS is already investigating the beam shaping, which is accelerated by a thousand times, for the first time for additive manufacturing together with the laser manufacturer Civan Lasers and A. Kotliar Laser Welding Solutions.

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  • Five years of funding for the consortium NFDI-MatWerk / 2021

    Materials Science and Engineering institutions collaborate on implementing a distributed research data infrastructure

    Press release (No. 12) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / July 07, 2021

    NFDI-MatWerk aims to integrate decentralized expertise through a uniform data language and standardized interfaces. In this way, completely new kinds of knowledge can be generated in the future.
    © Fraunhofer IWM

    In a collaborative effort to tackle the enormous challenge of building a common National Research Data Infrastructure NFDI, all across Germany entire research areas are working together in subject-specific consortia. As one of ten consortia in the second round, “NFDI-MatWerk” is going to receive five years of funding for Materials Science and Engineering. The consortium consists of renowned research organizations, including 10 applicants and 15 associated partners and is represented by the speaker Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl from the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM. It focuses on the infrastructure development for a shared materials data space.

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  • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's German-Polish High-Performance Center brings additive manufacturing to medical technology – first demonstrators will already be presented by the end of 2021 / 2021

    When the hip joint comes out of the printer

    Press release (No. 11) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / June 28, 2021

    © ronaldbonss.com

    It's all about high-tech dentures, prostheses that autonomously detect inflammatory reactions in the body, or individually adapted seats for wheelchairs. A German-Polish Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft High-Performance Center is researching new technologies for the use of 3D printing processes, known as additive manufacturing technology, in medical technology. For Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, it is one of two international High-Performance Centers launched in March that are explicitly dedicated to cross-organizational cooperation. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz are involved in the ”Additive Technologies for Medicine and Health” (ATeM) Center on the German side. They cooperate with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (CAMT) at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is providing financial support for the project.

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  • Application Center for Optical Metrology positively evaluated / 2021

    Fraunhofer research in Zwickau consolidated

    Press release (No. 10) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / June 10, 2021

    © Helge Gerischer

    Five years after the launch of the Fraunhofer Application Center for Optical Metrology and Surface Technologies AZOM at Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau University of Applied Sciences (WHZ), the research institution has been positively evaluated by external reviewers. The application center will thus continue to strengthen and expand Zwickau as a location for research and higher education.

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  • Fraunhofer IWS Dresden spins off lasertech company / 2021

    "Fusion Bionic" lasers lotus effects

    Press release (No. 9) - Fraunhofer IWS Dresden / May 18, 2021

    © ronaldbonss.com

    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 AHEAD project, which specializes in technology transfer.

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