Press Releases

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.

Prof. Dr. Michael Moseler, Head of the Tribology Business Unit at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg and Professor for Simulation of Functional Nanosystems at the University of Freiburg, has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant worth 2.5 million euros for the research and development of a digital twin that can describe lubrication under high loads and thus predict the design and operating conditions for energy-efficient machines. An ERC grant is one of the most prestigious awards in European research funding and is awarded to top researchers for outstanding scientific research approaches.

As part of a Fraunhofer flagship project, researchers are developing a digital ecosystem that collects data along the entire value chain for raw materials — with the goal of ensuring a sustainable and resilient supply. This makes it possible to reuse and recycle materials energy-efficiently and with as little loss as possible. At the Hannover Messe 2025, the research team will be presenting a demonstrator that showcases the many different options offered by this ecosystem.

Silicon carbide (SiC) provides considerable technical advantages for power electronics — however, the costs are still a drawback. In the »ThinSiCPower« research project, a consortium of Fraunhofer Institutes is developing key technologies to reduce material losses and device thickness while increasing the thermomechanical stability of the assembled SiC chips. The savings achieved are expected to help further accelerate the market development of efficient SiC power electronics.

Dr. Silke Sommer, Head of the Component Safety and Lightweight Design Business Unit at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, is the first woman to be honored with the prestigious Carl von Bach Medal of the University of Stuttgart Materials Testing Institute on October 8, 2024 at the MPA Seminar of the University of Stuttgart. This award recognizes her pioneering contributions to research in materials mechanics, particularly in the fields of crash simulation and lightweight construction technology.

Professor Erwin Sommer, the former long-standing head of institute of the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg and Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS in Hall (Saale), which was founded during his tenure, passed away on 16 June 2024 at the age of 88. Sommer pioneered the introduction of fracture mechanics as a field of research in Germany in the 1960s and in addition to his work as a scientist, he was active on numerous committees. He helped define the fabric of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as chair of the Scientific and Technical Council and founder and long-standing head of the Fraunhofer Group for Materials.

Due to crises such as the coronavirus pandemic or suspended trade agreements, supply bottlenecks occur time and again. Raw materials such as nickel, magnesium and rare earths, which industry needs to manufacture a wide range of products, are not always available — often for long periods of time. This is where a new Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft flagship project comes in: Since January 2024, six Fraunhofer Institutes have been researching how sustainable and resilient supplies can be maintained and secured. The four-year interdisciplinary project aims to create the information basis for preserving materials and components in the highest possible quality and feeding them into the cycle.

Many tribological systems are operated at their load limits for reasons of efficiency. Lubrication gaps are becoming narrower and lubricating films must withstand greater loads. For the reliable design of such systems, development and construction depend on precise calculation methods. However, conventional calculation approaches fail when it comes to so-called boundary lubrication. Prof. Michael Moseler and Dr. Kerstin Falk from the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg have succeeded in clarifying the mechanisms of boundary lubrication and making them predictable. This opens a path to new design possibilities for high-performance tribosystems. They present their groundbreaking approach in a renowned scientific journal.

Rolling bearings are installed wherever something is in rotation. The wide range of applications extends from large wind turbines to small electric toothbrushes. These bearings, which consist of steel components, must be carefully selected and tested with regard to their quality and the application in question. The grain size has a crucial effect on the mechanical properties of the steel. Up to now, the size of the microscopic crystallites has been assessed by metallographers by way of visual inspection — a subjective and error-prone method. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM, in collaboration with Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG, have developed a deep learning model that enables objective and automated assessment and determination of the grain size.