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Today, fruit and vegetables are transported thousands of kilometers to Germany. A team at Fraunhofer IKTS now wants to bring horticulture to the cities with efficient and compact water, energy and gas management – and thereby strengthen regional self-sufficiency.

Fraunhofer IKTS and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) plan to cooperate closely in industrial technology and innovation research. On September 18, 2023, Prof. Alexander Michaelis, director of Fraunhofer IKTS, signed the Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig and representatives of the Saxon Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport SMWA and the Saxony Trade & Invest Corporation with the Korean project management organization in Seoul.

Multi-material 3D printing with technical materials has huge potential. For example, functionalized or functionally graded products can be printed within a single process in a resource-saving manner. This significantly shortens the process chain and reduces manufacturing costs compared to conventional production routes. In order to commercialize this promising technology, the developers of the multi-material jetting technology at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS founded AMAREA Technology GmbH. The spin-off has been active since February of 2023. The entrepreneurs act as system developers on the market and sell both the printing technology and the newly developed printing materials. The possibilities extend beyond technical ceramics: metals, hardmetals, glasses, composites, cermets and even polymers can be processed.

Aircraft fuel consumption can be reduced by lowering drag and wing weight. This is the goal set by the partners in the EU project HERWINGT on the road to climate-neutral aviation. The aim is to create a short-haul aircraft for up to 100 passengers that produces 50 % fewer emissions by 2035.

Fraunhofer researchers have developed an extremely heat-resistant ceramic-based ink. For the first time, this enables metal components processed in the automotive industry at temperatures over 1000 ºC to be marked with a code. The code can be scanned and is linked to a database in which all the manufacturing parameters for the component in question are stored. The advantages of the technology are not simply the ability to detect production glitches and defective components at an early stage. It also opens up wide-ranging possibilities for designing process chains in the industry more efficiently and reducing their carbon footprint significantly. Even component forgeries can be prevented by means of special additives in the ink.

Silicon carbide is a popular industrial material for many applications. The extremely hard, heat-resistant material is used for refractory components and semiconductors, for instance. But its production is energy-intensive and emits a lot of carbon dioxide, as well as producing large amounts of by-products and waste products. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS have developed RECOSiC^©, an especially environmentally friendly recycling process that turns these by-products and waste products back into high-quality silicon carbide. This new process improves yields and also reduces the dependency on suppliers of raw materials.

In the WeBoat project, researchers are working on green technologies for water treatment in aquaculture. As a result, the project helps reduce environmental pollution and protects native aquatic species.

As part of the “Battery 2020 Transfer” initiative, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will fund the “PCEforNB” project (polymer-ceramic electrolytes (PCE) for medium-temperature Na-batteries) for three years and with 1.7 million euros. In the project, novel polymer-ceramic electrolytes for solid-state sodium batteries are being developed. As a promising post-lithium technology, the sodium battery has an important role to play in meeting the increasing demand for stationary storage. The aim of the research project is to consistently develop this technology further with a cost-effective, safe and long-lasting electrolyte. Project partners are the Fraunhofer Institutes for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and for Applied Polymer Research IAP as well as the Humboldt-Universität of Berlin.

Prof. Alexander Michaelis was honored with the Rieke Ring of the Deutsche Keramische Gesellschaft e. V. (German Ceramic Society) for his many years of commitment to the DKG. The award ceremony took place on March 29, 2023, at the 98th DKG Annual Conference in Jena.

Fraunhofer IKTS spin-off Nicoustic secures 25 MNOK (~2.3 m€) for piloting a vessel level monitoring system. The non-intrusive technology is based on Guided Ultrasonic Waves.