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Whether in the production of food and medicines, in horticultural businesses, in hospitals, or in every private household - disinfection and the reduction of pollutants in water and on surfaces play an important role in many areas of application. The addition of chemicals should, however, be avoided as extensively as possible in all these applications. This can be made possible through, for example, treatment with electrochemically produced ozonated water, a process which the Fraunhofer IST has been researching and developing for many years now.

The precise regulation of mold temperatures and flow rates in injection molding is a major prerequisite for the resource-efficient, economical and reliable production of high-quality plastic parts. In order to optimize the design and monitoring of mold temperature control, the real temperatures, pressures and flow rates must be continuously recorded during the injection-molding process. For this purpose, a sensor system is being developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST with which, for the first time, the temperature can be measured directly inside the three-dimensional temperature-control channels.

The measurement of force, pressure, temperature, wear and other variables, directly in main load zones or on tool active surfaces by means of thin-film sensor technology, provides valuable data for the optimization of existing production processes or simulation models. With the wear-resistant thin-film sensors developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST and adapted to the respective application, measurements can also be undertaken in areas which were previously difficult to access. For the first time, the researchers have succeeded in carrying out a spatially resolved temperature measurement in rolling contacts subjected to mixed friction.

Green batteries produced by 3D printers? While this may sound futuristic at first glance, it is nevertheless the objective of the project “Nachhaltige, flexible additive Fertigungstechnologien für Natrium-Ionen-Festkörperbatterien” (Sustainable, flexible additive-manufacturing technologies for solid-state sodium-ion batteries - 3D PrintBatt for short), in which the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST is involved. The company Blackstone Technology GmbH, which is managing the project, plans to launch 3D-printed solid-state sodium-ion batteries on the market as early as the beginning of 2025.

In the presence of the German Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, a delegation from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure of the United Arab Emirates (MOEI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Abu Dhabi.

Automate, standardize, digitalize - buzzwords that are currently important in virtually all fields, including the manufacture of medical products or pharmaceuticals. An important goal thereby is quality assurance with a simultaneous reduction in costs. In their white paper “Scalable manufacture of ATMPs”, researchers from nine different Fraunhofer institutes, including the Fraunhofer IST, use the example of novel and personalized cell and gene therapeutics to discuss which core building blocks are necessary for standardized and automated production.

For the economical and ecologically sustainable processing of plastics, long-lasting and correspond-ingly wear-resistant machine components are required. The Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engi-neering and Thin Films IST and the Southern-German Plastics Center SKZ are working together on the AiF project “Surface modification for the reduction of wear on highly stressed tool surfaces in extruders for plastics processing (extruder wear)”.

Solid-state batteries are considered to be a promising further development of the currently available lithium-ion batteries. In solid-state batteries, a so-called solid electrolyte is deployed instead of a liquid electrolyte, which is expected to result in increased safety, larger storage capacities and shorter charging times. Within the framework of the BMBF-funded FestBatt competence cluster, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, in collaboration with further research institutes, is conducting research into the manufacture, optimization and upscaling of processes for the production of solid-state batteries using sulfidic solid electrolytes.

A reduced risk of infection and, as a consequence, a decrease in new infections are goals that have become even more important during the Corona pandemic. One important factor thereby is the cleaning and disinfection of potentially contaminated surfaces. In the “MobDi - Mobile Disinfection” project, 12 Fraunhofer institutes collaborated on the development of new technical solutions for efficient and target-oriented robot-based disinfection. The Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST developed a modular plasma system which can be integrated into these types of mobile disinfection robots.

For the next generation of batteries, the utilization of a solid-state electrolyte presents a promising alternative. These offer a range of advantages in comparison to conventional lithium-ion batteries which utilize a liquid electrolyte. Solid-state electrolytes are, for example, considered non-flammable, cannot leak, and enable a substantial increase in energy and output density. Within the framework of the BMBF project “BiSSFest”, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST is working, in collaboration with project partners, on the production of safe and high-performance solid-state batteries.