Projects

The Cross-Disciplinary Multidimensional Material Analysis project plans to make efficient use of the infrastructure available at OVGU and to promote the targeted further development of multidimensional, coupled methods of scanning electron and ion microscopy with structure elucidation, element analysis and in-situ testing technology in the field of interdisciplinary material development.
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Due to current environmental and health policy requirements, the reduction of energy and use of sustainable raw materials, while at the same time sustainably improving economic, technological and environmental aspects, is a central concern of paint raw material suppliers, paint manufacturers and industrial paint users.
The industrial coating of metal components in Germany and Europe is a multi-billion euro market. On the one hand, it serves to protect against corrosion, but should also meet the visual requirements of the user. One of the coating technologies under consideration here is powder coating application. It has many advantages, such as the non-use of solvents, a high degree of automation, high coating quality, lower material consumption and high cost-effectiveness due to powder recovery. According to the current state of the art, the limitations lie in the curing temperatures of approx. 180-220°C established on the market, i.e. there is a high energy consumption. Many raw materials are traded on the world market, i.e. there are long transportation routes, no influence on availability and the purchase price. Furthermore, some pigments are harmful to health or poorly available due to problematic supply chains (e.g. TiO₂, heavy metals)[1].
For these reasons, the project partners iLF Magdeburg GmbH, Ganzlin Beschichtungspulver GmbH and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg have set themselves the ambitious goal of developing a sustainable powder coating. All raw materials should come from Europe and be renewable and biodegradable. Furthermore, these coatings should be processed using standard application technology, but also require the lowest possible processing temperatures in order to be able to produce economically and in an environmentally friendly manner in times of massively rising energy costs. The aim of the development is for the coating to achieve the service life of the components without any loss of function and to offer a wide range of industrial applications with the highest demands on product performance. By reducing the curing temperatures to approx. 130 °C, the aim is to achieve energy savings of 30-50 %.

Furthermore, powder coating offers the possibility of recovering the proportion of powder not used during the coating process (overspray). Here, almost complete utilization of the starting material can be achieved.
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As part of the R&D cooperation project "PC4PM - Powder Coatings for Printed Materials", powder coating is to be tested and established for the first time as a surface coating process for additively manufactured materials. The planned development work includes the coating of generatively manufactured plastics and metals with abrasion-resistant powder coatings. This reduces the production-related surface roughness of generatively manufactured components and significantly increases their wear resistance, which contributes to an improvement in component properties in numerous applications. In addition to influencing the look and feel, it is also possible to increase abrasion and wear resistance. The project is also pursuing the development of low-melting powder coatings with low cross-linking temperatures. Lowering the crosslinking temperature would result in a reduction in the process energy required and therefore significant cost and energy savings in the coating process. In addition, the range of applications for powder coating of plastics would be significantly expanded, as the high cross-linking temperatures of powder coatings mean that plastics are currently not suitable for this type of coating
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As part of the R&D cooperation project AEro-Lack, the development and testing of innovative powder coating systems with hard material particles is planned, which are used to coat components for industrial applications whose service life is currently severely restricted by abrasive and erosive stresses. These coating layers are intended to significantly improve the service life of various industrial applications compared to the state of the art. In addition, the development of suitable test methods, particularly with regard to abrasion and erosion resistance, the development of new types of surface pre-treatment and a comprehensive characterization of the paint coatings are planned. The R&D project is a cooperative project between H+E Produktentwicklung GmbH (SME), IWB Werkstofftechnologie GmbH (SME), Ganzlin Beschichtungspulver GmbH (SME), Institut für Lacke und Farben Magdeburg gGmbH (research institute) and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (research institute). The planned project is designed to run for 2.5 years.
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he R&D cooperation project "AEro-Lack" aims to develop and test innovative powder coating systems with hard material particles, which are used to coat components for industrial applications whose service life is currently severely restricted by abrasive and erosive stresses. These coating layers are intended to significantly improve the service life of various industrial applications compared to the state of the art. In addition, the development of suitable test methods, particularly with regard to abrasion and erosion resistance, the development of new types of surface pre-treatment and a comprehensive characterization of the paint coatings are planned. The R&D project is a cooperative project between H+E Produktentwicklung GmbH (SME), IWB Werkstofftechnologie GmbH (SME), Ganzlin Beschichtungspulver GmbH (SME), Institut für Lacke und Farben Magdeburg gGmbH (research institute) and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (research institute). The planned project is designed to run for 2.5 years.
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Research in the field of new materials requires high-performance electron microscopy to clarify microstructural properties and mechanisms. Equipment and methods for clarifying interactions on a nanoscale level are necessary for the successful processing of research projects. This involves characterizing the microscopic and macroscopic properties of materials, for example, deriving metal-physical findings and thus developing technical alloys for use under a wide range of conditions. Electron microscopic investigations using analytical methods such as X-ray spectroscopy and electron diffraction are an integral part of almost all current projects and plans. For competitive research in the field of materials science, comprehensive characterization of materials using state-of-the-art methods, such as imaging and analysis in three dimensions using a combination of SEM and FIB with EDX/EBSD, is essential. In addition to tomographic images for characterizing the microstructure (microstructure, inhomogeneities, etc.), the requested device can also be used to obtain information on the chemical composition, crystallographic orientation, phase fractions and stress states in the volume of a sample. In addition, target preparation using FIB makes it possible to extract sample areas of interest and examine them separately. In this way, lamellae can be prepared for STEM investigations and/or the lateral resolution of EDX and WDX analyses can be improved. This is of particular interest for imaging and analyzing ultrafine-grained material areas, diffusion processes or precipitation processes. For the derivation of mechanical and thermal properties, there are possibilities for in-situ tensile-compression and heating tests, as an important component of current and planned research topics. Crack initiation and crack propagation processes, as well as changes in orientation ratios and stress gradients under load can be determined. Heating the samples makes it possible to investigate phase transformations, diffusion processes at interfaces and precipitation processes.
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Light microscopes are an important part of research and technology, especially in areas such as quality assurance, failure analysis, forensics and geology. In addition to the structure of a material, its chemical composition is often of interest here. This requires additional equipment such as electron microscopes or X-ray fluorescence spectroscopes. By using a miniature X-ray source, it is possible to carry out X-ray fluorescence analyses directly on the light microscope. A spectroscope is integrated directly into the nosepiece of a conventional light microscope. The use of optics also enables spatially resolved analyses. The low energy requirement of the spectroscopy unit also enables portable, battery-operated use. A measurement takes approx. 90 seconds and makes it possible to examine all technically relevant materials (atomic number >5 qualitative and >11 quantitative). The product is currently in the development phase, although its feasibility and functionality have already been demonstrated experimentally.
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The complete geometry-independent development of a simulation setup makes it very easy to take new component geometries into account. Through a series of simulations with different inductor geometries, less suitable inductors can already be excluded on the basis of the simulations. This reduces the number of experimental iterations when developing or adapting new component and/or inductor geometries. In a subsequent step, it is also possible to identify the range of process parameters that still lead to suitable austenitization (heating) and thus the necessary hardness in the component after quenching with the most efficient process parameters possible. In addition, predictions on the reduction of the grinding allowance and statements on the residual austenite content in the edge area of hardened components should be made possible.
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The invention relates to a novel method for generating electron diffraction patterns for, for example, characterization of crystallographic properties, texture analyses or determination of distortion states using detector units and analysis software, wherein the pyroelectric effect is used for generating and accelerating the electrons. Pyroelectric materials such as LiTaO₃ or LiNbO₃ are used for electron generation and acceleration. Crystalline materials, preferably metals, are generally used as samples or objects of investigation.
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The aim of the project is to support the design of inductive process parameters using computer-based simulations and to enable a prediction of the hardness pattern. In this way, costs can be minimized by eliminating experimental iterations in the process design. The combination of material and process model enables concrete results, which are validated by experimental investigations. These consist of temperature measurements in a test induction plant, microscopic microstructure investigations and hardness profile measurements.
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