Networked expertise for innovative materials

As a non-university research institute, we combine application-oriented development with scientific depth and technical excellence. We offer cross-material class solutions and work with plastics, metals, functional materials and their combinations - always geared towards specific requirements and applications.

Our work is based on three guiding themes: Sustainability, digitalization and energy. We develop material solutions for closed cycles, evaluate environmental impacts using life cycle analyses and use digital technologies such as IoT, machine learning and digital twins to make processes smarter, more efficient and more robust.

Our technical infrastructure ranges from laboratory scale to industrial scale and is extensively digitally networked - an ideal basis for data-driven research and scalable processes. This is complemented by a wide range of analytical equipment for materials testing.

We work in an interdisciplinary, market-oriented and practical manner - in direct project cooperation with industrial companies, in publicly funded joint projects or as part of services such as analytical measurements, component testing, contract manufacturing, tool sampling or small series production. Our thematic spectrum includes particle foams, injection molding processes (including foam technologies), fiber-reinforced plastics, polymer-metal hybrids, thermal spraying (electric arc, cold gas), forming technology, metal powder development and additive manufacturing with plastics and metals.

In cooperation with the University of Bayreuth, with whom we not only share expertise but also have access to selected equipment as part of user agreements, we strengthen the transfer of technology from basic research to industrial practice.

What sets us apart: We make current challenges the starting point for concrete, transferable solutions - open to technology, industry-oriented and with a clear focus on feasibility.