K 2019 - Fraunhofer IGB

Düsseldorf / October 16, 2019 - October 23, 2019

K 2019 | Fair

The World’s No. 1 Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber

to K 2019 website

Hall 7.0, Booth SC01

Applied research is a crucial factor in business success in the plastic and rubber industry, combining future-driven research knowledge with market-driven needs and changes in the social environment. The specialized Fraunhofer Institutes deliver applied research excellence, market knowledge and practical, innovative ideas. We are helping to shape the future market for the plastic and rubber industry.

Fraunhofer IGB will show technologies and processes relating to plasma functionalization of polymers and catalytic processes for the production of biobased polymers.

We look forward to your visit at the joint Fraunhofer Booth in Hall 7.0, booth SC01.

For your success – our research competences

Plasma-functionalized and coated materials

To provide surfaces with new properties, Fraunhofer IGB especially applies plasma treatment technology. This way, we are able to etch surfaces, e.g. to clean them, or to graft chemical functionalities onto the surface, i.e. to alter wetting characteristics, or to polymerize thin films onto the surface, providing functions such as scratch-resistance, dirt-repellency, or corrosion protection. Further applications include inorganic oxygen or water vapor barrier layers for packaging materials that can be combined with another layer so that liquid and paste-like contents drain off completely from their containers. A further research topic is the plasma crosslinking of polymers as a methopd to obtain carbon fiber from biological resources. We offer the development of a complete process – from layer and process development to scale-up and production of sample coatings.

more info on plasma technology

Anti-icing coatings

The function of technical installations such as rotor blades of wind turbines, aircraft wings, solar panels, or overhead lines but also of outdoor and sports equipment, can be affected severely by ice adhesion. With plasma coatings, embossed or printed structures developed at Fraunhofer IGB surfaces and textiles can be effectively protected against icing. Water-repellent micro- and nanostructured layers for example reduce ice formation by more than 90 percent. Surfaces can either be coated directly in the plasma chamber or pasted with a self-adhesive anti-icing foil from shock and impact resistant polyurethane (PU).

more info on anti-icing coatings

Building blocks for biobased polymers

Chemicals and polymers from plant biomass are not only »green« – they also may have promising new properties. BioCat, the Straubing branch of Fraunhofer IGB, has developed processes for the transformation of terpenes, residual material of cellulose production from wood, to biosurfactants, biobased epoxides or monomers for especially impact-resistant, cold-stable polyamides. These high-performance polyamides from terpene lactams such as camphor and careen lactam as building blocks are significantly more amorphous – and due to their transparency enable new applications, e.g. for ski goggles or visors.

Further information

Innovation field "Bioinspired chemistry"

Press Release "A transparent and thermally stable polyamide – 100 percent biobased" (2018)

Press Release "Polyamides from a waste stream of the wood industry" (2016)

© Fraunhofer IGB
From wood waste to high-performance polymers: Terpenes from turpentine are converted to bio-based, transparent and heat-stable polyamides under application of a new catalytic process.

Plasma weathering: rapid testing method for material characterization

The product development cycles for new paints, coatings and other polymeric materials are complex, expensive and time-consuming, above all because of the testing methods used. The weather resistance of material surfaces have to be tested for months or even years on outdoor weathering stands. Plasma-based processes can imitate outdoor weathering. Here, the plasma serves as a source of radiation and particles. The effects of radiation, temperature, erosion and moisture, as well as the changes induced by them on the surfaces of polymers, can be obtained in a single process step with plasma processes.

Download info sheet "Plasma weathering of surfaces" (PDF)

Surface analysis

To an increasing extent innovative products are finished with a tailor-made surface design, for which the processes and surface composition have to be controlled down into the submicroscopic or atomic range. This is because adhesion, wettability, wear and corrosion are affected even by the smallest contaminations. Surface analysis at Fraunhofer IGB provides a wide range of highly specialized methods, procedures and types of equipment. We characterize the following properties of surfaces and interfaces, e.g. ultra-thin layers, powders, particles and membranes:

• chemical characteristics (e.g. elemental surface composition)
• physical characteristics (specific surface, film/layer thickness, wettability)
• morphological characteristics (e.g. roughness and topography) and
• the antibacterial effect of surfaces.
• biological properties such as biocompatibility, cell adhesion or the antimicrobial finishing

more info about surface analysis

Events and Trade Fairs