Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Tuesday, 22-May-2012 20:50:17 CEST
http://www.hzg.de/program/materials_systems/index.html.en

Advanced Engineering Materials

Compressor blades of a flight turbine, made from a Titanium Aluminide alloy patented by HZG Compressor blades of a flight turbine, made from a Titanium Aluminide alloy patented by HZG

More and more people with ever increasing life expectancy consume more fossil fuels, raw materials and other natural resources. This brings huge challenges. An affordable mobility for the society requires the development of resource-saving and energy efficient manufacturing processes. The design of a health care that yields the same high quality of life in old age and is socially and financially viable, requires implants, which help the body to heal and restore functions otherwise permanently lost.

For both the mastery of these challenges and to improve the environmental performance of process chains and materials cycles, the development of technology platforms based on new material systems plays a crucial role, because many of the necessary innovations are based on the use of novel materials.

In the frame of the Helmholtz-Programme "Advanced Engineering Materials" novel materials are developed, which are suitable for various fields of application. This generic property makes the developed materials a key to new system solutions with high added value versatility, geared primarily to fulfil the following tasks:

  •  increasing the strength, the stiffness and the high-temperature capabilities of light-weight materials at as low weight as possible.
  • joining materials on various length scales to hybrid materials and multi-material components for achievement of optimal mechanical respectively multifunctional properties.
  • increasing the multi-functionality of materials for energy and health challenges of the future.

The development of such materials is closely linked to methodological and technological developments in the following areas:

  • Process technologies for the production of novel alloys and polymers along the process chain from fundamental developments over scale-up to pilot plants.
  • Powerful analysis of chemical, physical and mechanical properties from molecular scale up to component dimensions
  • Cross-scale computer models and simulation tools for materials design and process optimization and for assessing the reliability of light-weight materials and components.

Failure simulation of an aeronautic structure Failure simulation of an aeronautic structure

The areas of application are many and varied: from automotive and aircraft engineering via resource-saving chemical process engineering through to medical engineering and technology. Completely new system solutions, e.g. for energy-saving lightweight engineering designs in vehicle body, motor and turbine engineering, for emission-free drive trains in transport engineering, for resource saving separation processes for materials mixtures, or also for medical implants, often only become reality through materials developments like these.

The researchers focus their efforts on three key development areas:

Innovative lightweight materials based on magnesium and titanium aluminide (TiAl) alloys for transport and energy engineering applications.


Metallic Biomaterials on the basis of Magnesium and Titanium alloys with optimised surface and bulk properties.


Mechanics and joining of novel light-weight materials and structures, emphasizing multi-material components, and focusing on deformation, damage and fracture mechanics, their manufacturing using advanced joining technologies, and assessment of their in-service integrity.


Functionalised materials, especially nanostructured polymers and nanocomposites for membranes for chemical process engineering and energy technologies, for structural applications as well as materials for hydrogen technology.


In response to the challenges arising from the scale-up of material development and production, from the design of optimized light-weight structures and manufacturing processes, within the Helmholtz-Programme "Advanced Engineering Materials " research platforms are established. They thematically pool the research infrastructure and multidisciplinary methodological expertise in the form of coordinated units and make it available for strategic projects with internal and external partners:

  • "Magnesium Innovation Centre" (MagIC)
  • "Light-weight materials assessment, Computing, and Engineering Center (ACE), under development 2010-2014
  • "Polymer Technology Centre (PTC), in planning

Block Copolymer Block Copolymer

In order to shorten the development times, the researchers form networks with scientists from universities and non-university research organisations, like the Max-Planck society, the Leibniz association, the Fraunhofer Society and from industry. By interdisciplinary co-operation a large part of the creation of value chain is taken into account - from fundamental questions of alloy and polymer development over processing up to component and process testing. Thereby conversion of the results into the technical application is substantially accelerated.

Development and testing of new materials is tightly connected to the research programmes "Regenerative Medicine" as well as "Research with Neutrons and Synchrotron radiation".