Press

On 3^rd September, the time had finally come: After eleven years, Project Manager Torsten Hochsattel held in his hands the – for the time being – final antenna component for the Sentinel-1C and D missions to be coated by him and the galvanic team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST.

The Fraunhofer Battery Alliance bundles the expertise of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in the field of electrochemical energy storage devices. Only recently, the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, represented by the engineers Sabrina Zellmer and Stefan Blume, has also been a member.

The two Fraunhofer IST trainees Conrad von Bülow and Jonas Boomers have successfully completed their final examinations to become physics laboratory assistants. With an average of 1.4, Conrad von Bülow is thereby one of the Chamber’s best. As one of the best trainees within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, he will receive his honors in Munich. Congratulations!

On 10^th July, the Hochschule Mannheim - University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST signed a cooperation agreement on the expansion of joint research activities in the field of tribology and surfaces. The Kompetenzzentrum Tribologie has been working closely with the Braunschweig institute since 2018 within the framework of the newly created DFG (German research foundation) priority program SPP2074 “Fluid-free lubrication systems”.

At this year’s 19^th Fachtagung für Plasmatechnologie (plasma technology conference), which took place from 17^th to 19^th June in Cottbus, Prof. Dr. Claus-Peter Klages was awarded the Rudolf Seeliger Prize for his achievements in the field of plasma research.

Optical functions – e. g. anti-reflective coatings or filters for specific spectral ranges – can be realized by means of interference coating systems. These systems deploy a sequence of high and low-refractive layers (e. g. Ta₂O₅ und SiO₂) whose layer thicknesses are precalculated according to the desired optical function. At the Fraunhofer IST, such coating systems are produced by means of magnetron cathode sputtering; applications are optical components in the field of precision optics.

The “Hacking Engineering” Hackathon is a new format which was initiated by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the VDMA, Europe’s largest industry association for mechanical engineering, and which took place in Berlin from 17th to 19th May 2019. The idea is to bring together companies from the fields of mechanical engineering and systems engineering with startups from research and interested students in order to collaboratively develop innovative future-oriented technologies. The teams of participants had 48 hours in which to solve one of four specified challenges. One of the winning teams chose for its solution the multifunctional thin-film sensor system developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST – and thereby won “Kill the valve”.

On March 26, 1949, the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft was founded and now celebrates its 70th birthday this year. The motto of the anniversary year: 70 years of Fraunhofer. 70 years of future. #WHATSNEXT. For the Fraunhofer IST, the anniversary of the founding was a cause for celebration as well.

As part of the ”Future Day for Girls and Boys”, school children from the grades 5 to 9 once again had the opportunity to spend a whole day exploring the research work of the Fraunhofer Institutes IST and WKI. A total of 24 young researchers – 13 girls and 11 boys – immersed themselves in the fascinating world of research at the two Fraunhofer Institutes. Together with the WKI, the Fraunhofer IST once again opened the doors for interested young people.

Industry 4.0, digitization, simulation and modeling of materials, processes, product and production systems and even entire factories are topics, which become more and more important for the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films. As a result, the institute again attends the Fraunhofer booth „Digital Solutions & New Materials“ (Hall 6, Stand A30) at this year‘s Hannover Fair from April 1-5, 2019.