MOONRISE: Bringing 3D-printing to the Moon - Melting Moon Dust with the Laser
- Details
- Geschrieben von Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.
- Kategorie
The moon – Earth satellite, first waypost on the way to other planets, enormously important for space research: With the ambitious MOONRISE project, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) and the Institute of Space Systems (IRAS) of the Technical University of Braunschweig are aiming at melting moon dust with a laser in order to make it usable as building material.
Waterproof Thanks to Rapid Lasers
- Details
- Geschrieben von Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS
- Kategorie
Fraunhofer engineers from Dresden have developed a new laser welding process employing a fast oscillating laser beam. This technology, known as "remoweld®FLEX", is suitable for particularly demanding processes – especially for components to be sealed media-tight against water and other undesirable environmental influences. These include housings for electrical and electronic components, heat exchangers and coolings, which have previously been regarded as hardly weldable and often consist of die-cast aluminum. The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS and Maschinenfabrik Arnold from Ravensburg were both involved in the research development.
How to Program Materials
- Details
- Geschrieben von Empa - Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt
- Kategorie
Can the properties of composite materials be predicted? Empa scientists have mastered this feat and thus can help achieve research objectives faster. This leads, for instance, to better recycling techniques and electrically conductive synthetic materials for the solar industry. Ali Gooneie simulates on his computer what holds the world together right at its very core: atoms, molecules, molecular chains and bundles – then lumps and fibers, which emerge thereof. With his calculations, the Empa researcher can also explain properties we can feel with our fingertips: smooth and rough surfaces, flexible and rigid materials, heat-conductive substances and insulators.
Self-organizing Molecules: Cups with Attoliter Volume
- Details
- Geschrieben von Universität Duisburg-Essen
- Kategorie
They look like interlocking egg cups, but a hen's egg is 100,000 times as thick as one of the miniature cups: Scientists at the Center for Nanointegration (CENIDE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) have made polymers to form themselves into tiny cups on their own. They could, for example, be used to remove oil residues from water. The scientists have published their results in the journal "Angewandte Chemie".
Machine Learning to Increase Biotechnology-based Protein Production
- Details
- Geschrieben von Paul-Ehrlich-Institut - Bundesinstitut für Impfstoffe und biomedizinische Arzneimittel
- Kategorie
In a research co-operation, researchers of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) have developed a mathematical model which allows more accurate forecasts and improved output in the biotechnology-based protein synthesis in host organism. The new method offers many and varied applications in biotechnology including the development of vaccines. Scientific Reports has published an article on the results in its online version of 17 May 2019.
Additive Machines Discover Superalloys
- Details
- Geschrieben von Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS
- Kategorie
Fraunhofer lighthouse project "futureAM" expected to speed up "additive manufacturing" by a factor ten. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have developed innovative methods enabling more materials to be processed in additive manufacturing than ever before. For example, additive manufacturing systems could facilitate better future aircraft engines with lower fuel consumption.
New Test Rig Components for Faster Development and Validation
- Details
- Geschrieben von Fraunhofer-Institut für Betriebsfestigkeit und Systemzuverlässigkeit LBF
- Kategorie
Numerical simulations have massively accelerated product development over the past few decades. A variety of scenarios can be tested in a short time and the number of necessary prototypes has been steadily reduced. Nevertheless, physical tests will not lose significance. Numerical models must be validated and approval testing must be carried out. In the project “Digitization in Testing Technology”, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF have developed tunable test rig components and a mechanical hardware-in-the-loop approach. The Results will present at the Automotive Testing Expo in Stuttgart, May 21-23, 2019 in hall 8, booth 8052.
New Hybrid Semiconductor Material for Sustainable Hydrogen Production
- Details
- Geschrieben von Technische Universität München
- Kategorie
Chemists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an efficient water splitting catalyst as part of a collaborative international research effort. The catalyst comprises a double-helix semiconductor structure encased in carbon nitride. It is perfect for producing hydrogen economically and sustainably. An international team led by TUM chemist Tom Nilges and engineer Karthik Shankar from the University of Alberta have now found a stable yet flexible semiconductor structure that splits water much more efficiently than was previously possible.
Swiftly Switched Spins Stay Cool
- Details
- Geschrieben von Universität Regensburg
- Kategorie
Using extremely short bursts of light, precisely shaped in a custom-cut gold antenna, an international research team from Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, and the US has switched the magnetization state of a solid faster and more efficiently than ever before. Their key achievement could pave the way towards a novel kind of nearly dissipation-free information technology. The results are published in the current issue of the top-tier journal Nature.
Application Offensive for Ultrafast Lasers in the kW Range
- Details
- Geschrieben von Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT
- Kategorie
Experts from 13 different Fraunhofer institutes are working on the development of multi-kW ultrafast lasers and various applications in the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Advanced Photon Sources CAPS. A user facility with application laboratories in Aachen and Jena is being created for this purpose, laboratories in which partners from industry and research can work with the new technology.
New Type of Highly Sensitive Vision Discovered in Deep-sea Fish
- Details
- Geschrieben von Universität Basel
- Kategorie
The deep sea is home to fish species that can detect various wavelengths of light in near-total darkness. Unlike other vertebrates, they have several genes for the light-sensitive photopigment rhodopsin, which likely enables these fish to detect bioluminescent signals from light-emitting organs. The findings were published in the journal Science by an international team of researchers led by evolutionary biologists from the University of Basel.
Fusible and Printable Elastomer Sensors for e-textiles
- Details
- Geschrieben von Fraunhofer-Institut für Silicatforschung ISC
- Kategorie
Integrating sensoric functions into textiles or elastomers is way more difficult than equipping machines because it requires movable or extensible sensors. The Center Smart Materials CeSMa of the Fraunhofer ISC with its experience in the field of adaptive elastomers has developed highly elastic sensors and actuators based on silicone. They provide a wide range of sensoric and actoric functions for smart electronic textiles (e-textiles) with a broad application potential in medical technology, in sports, in furniture, vehicles or in transport safety. CeSMa will be presenting its developments from May 14-17 at TechTextil 2019 in Frankfurt.
Marcus Regime in Organic Devices: Interfacial Charge Transfer Mechanism Verified
- Details
- Geschrieben von Technische Universität Dresden
- Kategorie
Physicists from the Research Cluster Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) of the TU Dresden, together with researchers from Spain, Belgium and Germany, were able to show in a study how electrons behave in their injection into organic semiconductor films. Simulations and experiments clearly identified different transport regimes. The study was published now in Nature Communications.
How to Generate a Brain of Correct Size and Composition
- Details
- Geschrieben von Institute of Science and Technology Austria
- Kategorie
During brain development, stem cells generate neurons of different type and function at distinct points in time. IST Austria researchers contribute key experiment to identify essential protein controlling stem cell behavior. To build the neocortex, a brain area involved in higher cognitive functions, stem cells produce billions of neurons of various types. In a Science study, neuroscientists from Switzerland, Belgium, and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) have now shown that, over time, the neocortical stem cells go through various maturation states, each of them leading to a distinct neuron type. Production of the correct neuron type is bound to a specific protein complex.
Researchers Take a Step Towards Light-based, Brain-like Computing Chip
- Details
- Geschrieben von Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
- Kategorie
Researchers from the Universities of Münster (Germany), Oxford and Exeter (both UK) have succeeded in developing a piece of hardware which could pave the way for creating computers which resemble the human brain. The scientists produced a chip containing a network of artificial neurons that works with light and can imitate the behaviour of neurons and their synapses. The network is able to “learn” information and use this as a basis for computing and recognizing patterns. As the system functions solely with light and not with electrons, it can process data many times faster than traditional systems. The study is published in “Nature”.
Laser Structuring at Triple the Productivity
- Details
- Geschrieben von Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT
- Kategorie
Car makers currently use a variety of methods to emboss plastic panels for vehicle interiors. However, manufacturing the tools required for this purpose is an extremely time-consuming process. This situation can be improved using a new laser machine that triples the rate at which these tools are produced while facilitating even more complex structures. The expertise required for the various components and processes was developed as part of the “eVerest“ project in collaboration with partners from research and industry.
