Application-oriented research and product development to a pilot plant level characterise the research areas of the Polymer Engineering Department at the Fraunhofer ICT. Projects for the development of plastic components are carried through from the initial idea to the production of prototypes. The content of these projects relates to every field of application for plastics, including the automotive and transport industry, consumer goods, aviation and space travel, chemistry and pharmaceuticals, packaging, medicine technology and construction.
Every important area in modern plastic processing technology is included in our thematic focus, which encompasses fibre composite technology, injection moulding and extrusion, material development, microwave and plasma technology, mould technology, particle foam processing, surface technology and the development of components.
The Polymer Engineering Department carries out research and development work in the following areas:
Fibre composites
In this research area the Polymer Engineering Department carries out intensive material and process-related research for fibre composite materials. Emphasis is placed on the material classes of long-fibre-reinforced thermoplastics (LFT), sheet moulding compound (SMC), thermoset and thermoplastic fibre composites processed using RTM techniques (including cast polyamide 6 and pCBT), as well as long-fibre-reinforced polyurethane (PUR fibre spraying).
Microwaves and plasmas
Competences in the field of microwaves and plasmas extend far beyond the sealing of thermoplastics, the heating, plastification and accelerated curing of resins or adhesives, drying, polymerisation or selective foaming. Plasma technology is applied in the field of UV chemistry and is also used for surface coating and the activation of plastics, exhaust-gas cleanup with microwave-induced plasmas, the generation of UV light with an adjusted spectral intensity, and sterilisation.
New materials and products
Work in the research area of new materials and products is concerned with the development of innovative material systems and processing technologies, and their application in the optimisation of plastic products. Particular emphasis is placed on surface and interface modifications in material compounds, developments in the field of polymer foams and particle foam processing, and highly-filled polymer systems. In addition, work is carried out in the interdisciplinary fields of mould technology, simulation, measurement and testing technology.
Injection moulding and extrusion
Besides conventional injection moulding, research is carried out into various special processes such as inline compounding, gas internal pressure technology, multi-component injection moulding, mono-sandwich and push-pull injection moulding, injection-compression moulding and back injection moulding, as well as the integration of technologies such as CO2 high-pressure technology, microwave or ultrasound technology in the extrusion process.
Functional lightweight design
The most recent key activity of the Polymer Engineering Department is the Fraunhofer project group “Functional Lightweight Design”, which was founded at the start of 2009 in Augsburg. The research activities in the field of composites range from production technologies and hybrid design to recycling, complementing the processing techniques already developed at the Fraunhofer ICT in Pfinztal. In the case of FIL, the focus is on continuous-fibre- reinforced, high-performance composites and the development of applications in the automotive, machine and plant manufacturing sectors.
