Completed Collaborative Projects

The aim of the PhotonFlex project is to develop and test innovative technologies for the cost-effective and highly productive manufacturing of flexible organic solar cells.

Technology metals or rare earth elements are important raw materials found in almost every electronic small appliance we use daily. However, the natural deposits of these elements are limited, and these materials must also be obtained in elaborate and often environmentally harmful processes from the appropriate ores. Using these raw materials sustainably is, therefore, becoming increasingly important. For this reason, instead of extracting raw materials, the industry is favoring material recovery: the recycling of old, unusable equipment. The Fraunhofer ILT, together with numerous international partners, is breaking new ground in the research of modern recycling processes in the project ADIR (Next Generation Urban Mining – Automated Disassembly, Separation and Recovery of Valuable Materials from Electronic Equipment). Funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework from September 2015 to August 2019, ADIR is exploring ways to make recycling processes more effective and efficient with the help of laser technology.

The recycling and extraction of raw materials from „electronic waste“ has been growing for some time now and became the recognized state of the art in the field of electronic devices since the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, the recycling processes are subject to constant development. In conventional recycling, the equipment is usually shredded. From the resulting mix of plastics, metals and glass, the desired raw materials are extracted in metallurgical or chemical processes. In this process, however, valuable raw materials are lost. ADIR has set itself the goal of using laser-based methods to recognize the corresponding materials in the device and to separate them in a targeted manner from the other materials and recyclables in subsequent work steps.

The aim of the project is to establish a suitable process chain that can be used in oral and maxillofacial surgery to produce resorbable, patient-specific as well as porous magnesium implants (such as scaffolds) for bone defects. For this purpose, Fraunhofer ILT will qualify the additive manufacturing process Selective Laser Melting for the processing of magnesium alloys and develop a suitable workflow for the integration of pore structures in individual implants.

The goal of the eVerest project is to develop highly flexible machine technology for precision laser processing, focusing on an increase of the effective ablation rate. With it, functional structures can be generated in tools and components at the highest geometric resolutions in the micrometer range without the user needing essential knowledge of the actual technology. All necessary subdomains of laser processing are integrated into the machine and operating concept, such as the virtual design of the product including the development and visualization of the structures while also taking the new possibilities of laser surface processing into account.

The ComMUnion project is dealing with the efficient production of 3D metal/CFRP multi-material components. High-speed laser texturing, surface cleaning, laser-assisted CFRP tape laying and process monitoring are to be integrated into a robot-based production cell. The ILT is developing a polygon scanner beam deflection system for the laser texturing to generate undercut structures with high surface rates in the metallic joining partner to enable high-strength connections to the CFRP tape.

The aim of the SeQuLas project is to develop a novel laser-based process technology that can weld thermoplastics without the use of absorbers. Using a continuously updating temperature field, the project partners will segment a seam contour and adapt the irradiation order and parameters during the welding process, thus achieving a defined energy input. This will contribute to increasing the flexibility and efficiency of industrial production in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The innovations this project is pursuing will significantly contribute to increasing energy efficiency and climate protection by reducing CO2 emissions, both in terms of process and application. Due to the high energy efficiency of the laser process compared to furnace processes, the energy required to functionalize the layer can be significantly reduced with successful process development. In addition, the range of applications of tribologically stressed lightweight components will significantly expand in machine and automotive construction and the service life and the efficiency of the components will increase. Resulting from this is both an increase in energy efficiency and an emission reduction for the corresponding industrial plants and systems.

ALISE (Diode-pumped Alexandrite Laser Instrument for Next Generation Satellite-based Earth Observation) is supervised by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

Together with the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics (IAP) and the subcontractor Airbus Defence & Space, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT are conducting research into optical technologies for satellite-based observation of the global climate.

Efficient Surface Treatment with the Laser

Whether they are used for functional structuring, coating or polishing, lasers have proved to be very advantageous tools that have made processes in many areas of industrial production significantly more cost-effective and robust. However, previous laser applications in industrial surface treatment often have limited throughput or are not suitable for more complex adjustments.

Funded by the European Union, the ultraSURFACE project focuses on optimizing optical systems with dynamic 3D applicability and on developing strategies for laser-based production processes with high-throughput. The project also helps to make manufacturing more environmentally friendly in Europe: The concepts under development reduce noise, dispersion dust, and the use of (toxic) chemicals as well as improve the CO2 balance by lowering emissions. Ten partners are involved in the project, which is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen.

New Optics Designs for Increased Throughput

In the ultraSURFACE project, scientists and industry partners are developing two new optical designs which allow users to adapt laser beam manipulation individually and to increase throughput by a factor of ten compared to conventional processes. To accomplish this, the partners use beam shaping and beam splitter optics for the laser. For laser polishing and coating, the beam shaping optics can be used to individually adapt the intensity profile of the laser radiation to local surface conditions. Furthermore, the surface can be processed simultaneously with several individual beams by means of the beam splitter optics for laser microstructuring.

The aim of the ultraSURFACE project is also to demonstrate that its processes can easily be used in manufacturing – the technologies developed here will later be integrated into a variety of industrial applications using appropriate prototypes. The new concepts will be tested and evaluated in laser polishing, laser thin-film processing and laser microstructuring. In addition to high-quality products for the automotive sector or for mechanical engineering in general, these concepts are also suitable for manufacturing consumer-market products. The new concepts of the ultraSURFACE project thus offer great potential for many industries – not only in the European laser market.

The FlexHyJoin project is developing a fully automated process for joining TP-FRP with metal in multi-material construction. With induction and laser welding, two processes are combined in a fully automated production cell that complement each other perfectly. By implementing innovative surface structures in the metal, which are created by means of laser radiation, it is possible to achieve a positive fit and thus an optimized adhesion for hybrid components, without any additional materials such as adhesives. Due to a high degree of automation and a considerable reduction in cycle time, FlexHyJoin will advance the extensive use of hybrid components in automotive series production.

Today's production technology is highly automated in many sectors. Yet the smoothening and polishing of free-form surfaces – such as tool inserts or medical implants –is still often done manually since setting up automated processing entails considerable work and costs, and hence is not economical.

SYMPLEXITY aims to exploit the possibilities of automation for this kind of work by having robots take over parts of it. For this purpose, Fraunhofer ILT and its project partners are developing cooperative and collaborative robot cells and the required safety technology in which the robot takes on simpler tasks and humans the more demanding ones.

The CarboLase project aims to develop, interlink and evaluate an automated production chain for the manufacture of functionalized carbon fiber preforms. The project will present a robotic- and sensor-assisted route starting from the singling of flat carbon fiber textiles, to stacking and binding, laser-beam processing for the manufacture of functional boreholes up to the integration of force-transmission elements. Thanks to the automated and self-regulating process steps, small to medium batch sizes of CFRP components can be produced economically.

The joint project BI-TRE investigated efficient, reliable and cost-effective methods for the microsurgical bonding of small blood vessels and the laser fixing of wound pads in the mouth and throat.

In the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries", Aachen-based production and materials scientists developed concepts and technologies for sustainable economic production.

A total of 18 chairs and institutes of the RWTH Aachen University as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT were involved in the project. The Cluster of Excellence, endowed with approximately 40 million euros, was thus the most comprehensive research initiative in Europe with the aim of maintaining production in high-wage countries.

"Fraunhofer Systemforschung Elektromobilität" is a joint project funded by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. During the project period (2013 to 2015), 16 Fraunhofer Institutes worked on project topics in the clusters "powertrain / chassis", "battery / range extender" and "construction methods / infrastructure". With the development of innovative technologies and components for hybrid and electric vehicles, the partners created attractive offers for the automotive industry.

The final goal of BRITESPACE project is the realization of an Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) LIDAR system based on a high performance semiconductor laser source for the measurement of carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth atmosphere from satellite based space missions. IPDA LIDAR basically works on the use of two different wavelengths for the measurement of CO2 concentration: one wavelength is strongly absorbed (λOFF) and the other is lightly absorbed by the gas (λON). Additionally, the laser light is modulated or pulsed in order to allow the measurement of the height of the air column under measurement.

Diode lasers are the most efficient technology for converting electrical energy into useful light. However, this efficiency is not available to most industrial users due to the low brilliance of direct diode sources. The BRIDLE project seeks to remove this limitation, delivering a technological breakthrough in cost effective, high-brilliance diode lasers for industrial applications. By harnessing the power and efficiency of diode lasers, the project aims to develop an affordable direct diode laser source for industrial applications requiring the cutting and welding of sheet metal.

Vascularization is one of the most important and highly challenging issues in the development of soft tissue. It is necessary to supply cells with nutrition within a multilayer tissue, for example in artificial skin. Our research on artificial skin is driven by an increasing demand for two main applications: for the field of regenerative medicine, victims must be provided with soft tissue implants, as well as soft tissue is necessary after traumatic injuries and tumour treatment. Secondly, to substitute the expensive and ethically disputed pharmaceutical tests on animals by artificial vascularized test beds to simulate the uptake of the pharmaceuticals into the blood.

The "AdaM" project partners have set themselves the goal of meeting the global socio-political challenges in mobility, energy and climate. Increasing resource efficiency in energy supply and mobility should bring not only economic but also ecological benefits. By mastering complex technologies, the project partners developed a unique selling point and established this sustainably by expanding cooperation possibilities.

Various studies forecast a steady increase in installed capacity for the generation of electrical energy by 2.5 to 3.5 percent annually until 2030. The current discussions with regard to changes in the global climate underline the need for optimal and efficient processes. Alternative energies cannot cover demand sufficiently in the short term and can currently only supplement it. The proportion of electrical energy generated by burning fossil fuels will remain constant at around 80 percent, so turbomachinery will continue to play a central role.