Press Releases

A new simulation model from the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg predicts weak points in forged components caused by incomplete grain formation (recrystallization). Embedded in an efficient digital workflow, this creates a digital forging laboratory that enables material and energy savings in forging processes.

Adding hydrogen to fossil fuels is an important step toward decarbonization of combustion processes in large engines and gas turbines. The materials used in these applications are exposed to extreme temperature changes, mechanical stresses, and hydrogen gas. Depending on its proportion in the fuel and the sensitivity of the materials, hydrogen further reduces fatigue strength. Scientists at Fraunhofer IWM have demonstrated how thermomechanical fatigue under the influence of hydrogen can be determined economically using hollow specimens.

In the research project Cross-Company Material Data and Material Simulation in Production, PMD-X-MAPRO, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, researchers and industry are working to make material data available in a digital and machine-readable format. The goal is to prepare information about material properties and manufacturing data in such a way that it can be automatically used and exchanged along the entire supply chain. In addition to the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE and the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, industry partners are involved: Siemens AG, SHS – Stahl-Holding Saar GmbH & Co. KGaA, tec4U-Solutions GmbH, credativ GmbH, and Deutz AG. The latest results and applications will be presented from April 20 to 24 at the Hannover Messe 2026 trade fair at the Industry 4.0 platform stand (Halle 13, Stand C24).

The director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg and professor of materials mechanics at KIT was named a TMS Fellow on March 18, 2026, at the annual conference of the American TMS – The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society in San Diego. The appointment as a TMS Fellow is the highest award for TMS members and honors the life's work of leading figures in materials science. The honor recognizes Prof. Peter Gumbsch's outstanding scientific achievements and technical contributions to multiscale materials modeling and the understanding of fracture and deformation processes.

Scientists at Fraunhofer IWM have developed and tested a substitution chain for lubricants and seals containing PFAS in a project funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg and a Fraunhofer project. This allows suitable PFAS-free materials solutions to be efficiently identified and evaluated.

In a new research project funded by the BMWE, design guidelines for welds for use in hydrogen technologies are being developed, based on the established recommendations of the International Institute of Welding (IIW). In the future, it should be possible to universally take into account the influence of hydrogen on fatigue strength and thus the service life of components for different applications when dimensioning welds, helping companies to both develop welded components more quickly and to reduce wall thicknesses. Within the project consortium, the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM is responsible for formulating design concepts, materials testing, and digitalization. The project will start in February 2026.

The DVM stands for digitization, networking, and material innovations, bringing science and industry together to advance materials research, materials testing, and component testing. At the general assembly in December 2025, Prof. Dr. Christoph Eberl from Fraunhofer IWM in Freiburg was elected as the successor to Prof. Dr. Tilmann Beck from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. He took office as chairman of the board on January 1, 2026.

The digital die casting twin links information regarding the condition of materials to all sub-processes of die casting and creates a knowledge base for meeting economic, technological, and ecological requirements. To this end, knowledge graphs for various process steps were created and networked at Fraunhofer IWM using ontology-based semantic structures. Fraunhofer IWM will present the digital twin at the EUROGUSS trade show from January 13 to 15, 2026.

The HyLife project aims to develop a physics-based service life prediction tool for materials in contact with hydrogen. Innovative test methods and materials models will be used to reliably predict the service life of components under the influence of hydrogen, thereby making a decisive contribution to the safe-ty and efficiency of hydrogen infrastructures.

Fraunhofer IWM has developed and commissioned a micro-tensile testing apparatus with an integrated high pressure hydrogen chamber that can be used to perform mechanical quasi-static or cyclic (fatigue) tests and fracture mechanics investigations on samples measuring just a few millimeters in size. The transferability of the test results from micro to macro samples is guaranteed. Micro sample testing technology opens up new possibilities for efficiently and reliably evaluating the mechanical properties of both small and thin-walled components, as well as local weak points in material structures and weld seams in large components.

Fraunhofer IWM has developed and successfully commissioned an autoclave for crack growth tests on CT samples in hydrogen at pressures of up to 170 bar. The compact design enables the cost-effective creation of a database for the design and safe operation of hydrogen infrastructure components.

How can new bio-based and biohybrid materials with improved features be developed faster? Six Fraunhofer institutes are jointly exploring this question in the SUBI²MA flagship project, using an innovative bio-based polyamide developed by Fraunhofer researchers as a model. Its specific properties make it a promising alternative to fossil-based plastics.

Climate change, snowmelt, and rising energy costs are putting pressure on ice rink operators. Skating on plastic sheets promises an economical and sustainable alternative. In the race to develop the most athletic skating experience, Glice AG from Lucerne, Switzerland, has now succeeded in a research project with Fraunhofer IWM in Freiburg to develop synthetic ice with gliding properties that are in no way inferior to those of frozen water. The creative interplay between Fraunhofer IWM's materials science research into the contact mechanisms — including the resulting material specifications necessary for enabling skating on plastic — and Glice AG's further development of the formula and manufacturing process for plastic ice sheets ultimately led to the breakthrough.

The scarcity and expense of fatigue data limits optimal design of components and constrains companies to a few well qualified materials when safety-critical applications are concerned. Scientists of Fraunhofer IWM together with colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have developed strategies for significantly improving the extraction of structured information from unstructured scientific literature—the largest corpus of fatigue data to date. They have published their findings on the ChemRxiv platform.

Under dynamic loads, lightweight structures can be subjected to vibrations that on the one hand generate disturbing noises and on the other lead to material fatigue. In the “LEICHT_DISS” project, friction elements were developed and evaluated that absorb vibration energy as part of the lightweight structures and lead to a stabilization of the system. In addition to increased functionality and safety, the use of these new technologies also enables weight savings as well as economic and ecological potential in component design.

The groundbreaking ceremony on July 22, 2025 marked the start of construction for the Engineering Center for Sustainability (Ingenieurzentrum Nachhaltigkeit – IZN) on Freiburg’s airport campus. The new building will foster closer collaboration between Freiburg’s five Fraunhofer institutes and the University of Freiburg under the umbrella of the Department of Sustainable Systems Engineering (INATECH).

40% of waste oil from industrial processes can now be reprocessed into base oils. However, the technological processes for this are not differentiated enough to recover the valuable base materials from waste oil that are used for high-performance lubricants and to produce new long-life lubricants from them. The recycling technologies currently in use are therefore limited to low-viscosity oils. There is a great need among lubricant manufacturers and their base material suppliers to continue using higher-viscosity gear oils, as there is enormous potential for reducing CO2 and costs. There is also great interest in sustainable lubrication solutions in technology sectors such as wind power and mobility.

In the "AluTrace" project, a decentralized data room architecture was developed that enables seamless traceability and analysis of materials and process data. This is not only important for the design process of lightweight components, but also for the entire value chain in additive manufacturing. By implementing a process-specific topology optimization algorithm (PSTO), it was possible to demonstrate how end-to-end data networking can lead to significant improvements in component quality and performance. The results achieved, including a weight reduction of up to 23% while maintaining the same mechanical strength, demonstrate the clear industrial need for effective solutions for lightweight construction.

The “CapS-PTL” project is developing an innovative technology for the production of porous titanium electrodes, which is crucial for efficient hydrogen production by electrolysis. By using capillary suspensions (CapS), precise control of the porosity and mechanical strength of the electrodes is achieved, which significantly increases electrochemical performance.

Raw material extraction in deep-sea environments requires extremely durable components – especially in pumps. In the "SubseaSlide" project, a novel diamond-SiC composite material was developed and qualified, demonstrating exceptional wear resistance and operational reliability under realistic conditions. This research makes a significant contribution to efficiency, supply security and sustainability in marine resource extraction.