Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWMCrises such as the coronavirus pandemic or suspended trade agreements have repeatedly led to supply bottlenecks. Raw materials such as nickel or magnesium and rare earths, which industry needs to manufacture a wide range of products, are sometimes only available to a limited extent or there is a risk of supply bottlenecks. This is where the Fraunhofer flagship project "ORCHESTER" comes in: Since January 2024, six Fraunhofer Institutes have been researching how the sustainable and resilient supply of functionally reliable materials can be designed 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.
ORCHESTER - Digital ecosystem for a resilient and sustainable supply of functionally reliable materials
Ongoing research project
Project description
The "ORCHESTER" project aims to expand the range of materials that can be used, increase the proportion of recycled materials in processes and reduce the use of rare earths from the primary route. The aim is to achieve a paradigm shift in material specification away from a definition based on material composition towards a function-based specification - for faster substitution of critical materials and therefore a more resilient materials supply.
The project shows its effectiveness by means of three demonstrators that focus on materials specification, recycling and criticality: In the case of bipolar plates for electrolyzers and fuel cells and heat exchangers, for example, whose costs are largely determined by the nickel content - a critical element with a high supply risk - ways are being researched to reduce this content without compromising the essential functional properties of the bipolar plates. Elsewhere, the aim is to maximize the secondary material content of the aluminium alloy in compressor wheels for hydrogen pipelines, fuel cells and heat pumps in order to minimize the energy footprint. The project relies on experimental and simulation-based high-throughput screening methods to identify efficient alloy variations. The third demonstrator aims to recycle permanent magnets for electric motors and wind turbines. Among other things, simulation models and machine learning are used to predict the influence of impurities on magnetic performance and to determine corresponding alloy windows.
Fraunhofer IWM subproject:
In the ORCHESTER flagship project, Fraunhofer IWM is focusing on digitally supported materials, process and component evaluation. In the flagship project, we are the central driver and developer of the digital ecosystem to support a sustainable and resilient supply of functionally reliable materials in the form of a platform for the integration and networking of data along the entire value chain. The platform will include the ability to integrate digital products and thus improve the exploration and expansion of data, enable proactive action through an early warning system for materials flow, materials availability, criticality and raw materials footprint, and provide recommendations for action and decision support based on data and AI.
In addition to setting up the digital ecosystem, we are active in all three demonstrators. We are focusing on the experimental determination as well as the modeling and simulation of chemistry-process-structure-property relationships. The demonstrator focusing on "recycling", in which the secondary materials content of aluminum alloys is to be increased by controlling impurities, is our main area of work. Particularly in the area of modeling and simulation, we support the demonstrators for materials selection and specification as well as the demonstrator for criticality using the example of permanent magnets. Both physical models and AI methods are used for the modeling and simulation of materials properties and processes.
Transfer of project results to the following Fraunhofer IWM R&D services for companies:
- Use of the digital ecosystem for digitally supported or assisted research services to increase sustainability and resilience for the:
- Improved selection of usable materials
- Increasing the proportion of recycling in process routesn
- Shorter development time for alloys
- fewer rare earths from primary production
- Characterization, modeling and simulation of chemistry-process-structure-property relationships to analyze and evaluate the functional safety of materials
- Data sets for chemistry-process-structure-property relationships
- Licensing of the digital ecosystem and digital products for local instances in companies