Organization

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Our business units (departments) are oriented to materials-related research and development topics and the impacts upon a product's life cycle. In each phase the Fraunhofer IWM provides sustainable and innovative solutions for product and technology development processes. Each business unit has a clearly defined contextual focus, these being Materials Design, Manufacturing Processes, Tribology, Component Safety and Lightweight Construction and Assessment of Materials, Lifetime Concepts. The Fraunhofer IWM business units address central research themes which are related to energy and resource efficiency.

Fraunhofer IWM Organization Chart [ PDF 0.1 MB ]

Fraunhofer IWM Business Units

Manufacturing Processes

Innovative manufacturing processes for precision contours and functional components with defined property profiles. Focus areas are powder and fluid systems, forming processes, machining processes and glass forming.

Tribology

Solutions for reducing friction and for abrasion protection for bearings, seals and drive systems. Focus areas are micro tribology, tribological simulations, technical ceramics, lubricants, tribological coatings.

Component Safety and Lightweight Construction

Qualification of materials and components for mobility, energy, machinery and engineering. Focus areas are safety and lifetime analysis, crash simulation, joints, composite materials.

Assessment of Materials, Lifetime Concepts

Reliable systems for energy conversion and energy storage, material qualification for power plant technology. Focus areas are microstructure modeling, lifetime prediction, material models, hydrogen embrittlement, damage analysis.

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Budget Fraunhofer IWM

The operating budget is financed through external earnings and institutional funding (core funding). The operating budget for 2022 amounted to 25.4 million euro, of which 25.1% came from industry revenues. The investment budget for 2022 was 2.3 million euro.

At the end of 2022 the institute employed 136 scientists, 71 technical staff and 55 infrastructure staff. Including the 56 academic assistants which included interns as well as 9 apprentices, the Fraunhofer IWM had 327 employees in 2022.