Polymeric Materials and Composites PYCO

Customized lightweight solutions from a single source

The research division Polymer Materials and Composites PYCO is your competent partner in all questions of polymer-based lightweight construction with fiber-plastic composites and complex fiber composite components in multi-material design.

Our holistic approach includes not only novel construction methods, material design, structures and associated manufacturing technologies but also the development of sustainable recovery and recycling strategies for end-of-life scenarios.

We offer customized solutions thanks to our state-of-the-art equipment and technologies.

Starting with the development of special polymers and fiber composite semi-finished products, through the design of prototypes, to the planning and implementation of manufacturing processes suitable for large-scale production, all the key lightweight construction competencies in the value chain can thus be mapped under one roof, from monomers to energy-efficient high-performance composite components. Such a bundling effect is an absolutely unique selling point in the German research landscape.

 

Services

Polymer development
Semi-finished products
Simulation and design
Structural testing and analytics

 

 

Research

Polymers, semi-finished products | lightweight construction | microelectronics, photonics | manufacturing processes, process chains | recycling, repair | energy-efficient curing | special additives | simulation | additive manufacturing

Departments

Customized materials


Construction and
Manufacturing technologies

Equipment

Pilot plants | workshop/fiber composite laboratory | analytics, characterization | fire laboratory | films and surfaces | chemical
laboratories | simulation

Contact

Locations

Wildau | Cottbus

Polymeric Materials and Composites

Our expertise – your success

Siliconized papers

Surface properties and
performance comparison

[Studie]

LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION

The Fraunhofer IAP works with the Department of Polymer-based Lightweight Construction (PbL) at BTU Cottbus - Senftenberg.

Head: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Seidlitz


LARGE FORMAT 3D PRINTING (LFAM)

  • design of complex geometric parts
  • high productivity, lower costs
  • high strength, composites with glass fibers, carbon fibers, minerals

Services

  • development and modification of polymers and composites for lightweight construction applications
  • formulation of resins and their synthesis
  • resins for bulk applications and high performance materials (e.g. UP, PF, EP and polycyanurates)
  • cross-scale analysis and characterization of polymers and structural testing
  • development of energy-efficient manufacturing technologies for individualized lightweight structures
  • design and layout of complex structural components
  • coupled process-structure simulation and holistic optimization, machine learning, stochastic modeling
  • design of material- and load path-appropriate load introduction elements and joining technologies
  • implementation and support of technology demonstrators until market maturity
  • chemically and physically based recycling processes for plastics and high-performance composites
  • investigations in the fire laboratory
  • Method development for the characterization of polymers, semi-finished products and components
  • automated system for determining the fracture toughness of reactive resins by means of optical crack tracking (OCT)
  • thermophysical characterization of polymer films in the sub-micrometer range using temperature-variable ellipsometry
  • spectroscopic analysis e.g. by IR/Raman/TGA coupling and FTIR microscope

Research

  • development of customized polymers and semi-finished products
  • sustainable lightweight solutions with fiber-reinforced composites
  • materials for microelectronic and photonic applications
  • continuous development and optimization of manufacturing processes and process chains
  • materials-compatible recycling and repair processes
  • energy-efficient curing methods: microwave, UV, IR and electron beam
  • development of special additives, e.g. fracture toughness and flame retardant modificationCoupled process and structure simulation
  • holistic material-adapted additive manufacturing processes

 

Departments

 

Together with companies, the materials scientists in the Polymer Materials and Composites PYCO research area develop both highly crosslinked polymers, SMC and BMC semi-finished products, and high-performance prepregs for fiber composite components. The design and layout as well as the manufacturing implementation of high-performance components is carried out in the Design and Manufacturing Technologies department. In product development, the scientists and engineers draw on state-of-the-art software systems and simulation tools, highly automated series production technologies, and materials developments from the Tailored Materials department.

 

Tailored
materials

 

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christian Dreyer

 

Working groups

  • Polymer development
  • Semi-finished products
 

Design
and manufacturing
technologies

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Seidlitz

 

Working groups

  • Simulation and design
  • Structural testing and analytics

Equipment

The equipment of the research area enables both the development of new polymers and the calculation, design and simulation as well as the characterization of entire components.

    • pilot plant reactor for polymer synthesis up to 20 liters
    • horizontal and vertical impregnation lines for prepreg production (40 to 800 mm width)
    • coating of carrier materials
    • automated Fiber Placement-production complex: Slitting, Rewinding, 3D-Legetechnologie
    • autoclaves: up to 250 °C, 15 bar, d ≤ 1000 mm / l ≤ 2000 mm
    • press technologies: ≤ 450 °C, ≤1500 x 1500 mm², ≤1200 kN
    • compounding: twin screw extruder Haake D 14 mm and 20 mm, max. torque: 1.1 Nm, max speed 150 min-1 max. feed rate for powder 7.5 kg/h, max. feed rate for pellets: 14 kg/h; laboratory compounder Collin ZK 25 E x 42 L/D, twin screw extruder diameter 25 mm, length 42 D; torque max. 70 Nm, speed 460 min-1, max. output 50 kg/h; Boston Matthews single-screw extruder, screw diameter 60 mm; L/D = 25 :1, up to 380 °C, cooling section 5.00 m; Collin Teach Line single-screw extruder: 3.5 kg/h, max. speed 180 min-1; Kneader: up to 2.5 L, up to 200 °C, 0 to 3 bar absolute;
      Three-roll mill with temperature-controlled (10 - 70 °C) SiC rolls, gap or force control
    • compounding: Haake D 14 mm and 20 mm twin screw extruders, max. torque: 1.1 Nm, max. speed 150 min-1 max. output for powder 7.5 kg/h, max. output for pellets: 14 kg/h; Collin ZK 25 E x 42 L/D laboratory compounder, twin screw extruder diameter 25 mm, length 42 D; torque max. 70 Nm, speed 460 min-1, max. output 50 kg/h; Boston Matthews single-screw extruder, screw diameter 60 mm; L/D = 25 :1, up to 380 °C, cooling section 5.00 m; Collin Teach Line single-screw extruder: 3.5 kg/h, max. speed 180 min-1; Kneader: up to 2.5 L, up to 200 °C, 0 to 3 bar absolute
    • three-roll mill with temperature-controlled (10 - 70 °C) SiC rolls, gap or force control
    • injection molding technologies: 2K/650 kN, 3K/1200 kN
    • microwave (8 m³ microwave oven and continuous microwave system), incl. dielectric spectroscopy
    • UV curing (mercury vapor lamps and UV LED systems)
    • water jet cutting machine
    • CNC milling machine
    • Resin Transfer Molding
    • 1K und 2K dispensing systems
    • painting chamber
    • pressure pot
    • desiccator
    • stereomicroscope
    • air circulation and curing oven ENA 430/500/18: 20 - 500 °C, 600 mm x 600 mm x 1200 mm (W x D x H)
    • chamber furnace Heraeus K1253: 1150 °C, 545 mm x 230 mm x 275 mm (W x D x H)
    • Stud welder AS ISO 66
    • cacuum pumps: min. final pressure: 1.5 mbar, max. flow rate: 4.02 m³/h
    • wet cutting device ATIKA ST 300 with diamond cutting disk
    • mechanical test benches
    • differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
    • FTIR/Raman/TGA coupled with FTIR microscope
    • digital microscope
    • rheometer
    • optical Crack Tracing (OCT)
    • UV/VIS-spectrometer
    • dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)
    • nano-TMA/TGA/DVS - Variable Temperature Ellipsometry (VTE)
    • climatic chambers and UV irradiation for environmental simulations
    • ultrasound
    • computed Tomography (CT)
    • cone calorimeter according to ISO 5660-1 - essential part of the rail vehicle standard EN 45545-2 as well as simulation possibility of the single burning item and room corner test as a preliminary evaluation for the building material classification according to EN 13501
    • oxygen index (LOI) according to DIN EN ISO 4589
    • test device in accordance with UL94
    • small burner test in accordance with e.g. FAR 25.853 (aviation)
    • spin Coater
    • laminar Flow Box
    • glove Box
    • refractive index, layer thicknesses, attenuation, birefringence and thermo-optical coefficient
    • contact-angle
    • Werzalit test
    • permeation of water vapor
    • torsion pendulum
    • synthesis from laboratory scale to 20 L reactor
    • cryogenic mill
    • vibrating mill
    • Schlenk-Line
    • laboratory reactor up to 100 bar
    • CAE software for end-to-end process and structure simulation
    • Machine Learning
    • CAD software
    • FEM software
    • simulation of electromagnetic fields

Contact

Holger Seidlitz

Contact Press / Media

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Seidlitz

Division director of Polymeric Materials and Composites PYCO | Head of Department Design and Manufacturing Technologies

Schmiedestraße 5
15745  Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-285

Fax +49 3375 2152-282

Christian Dreyer

Contact Press / Media

Prof. Dr. Christian Dreyer

Deputy head of the research division | Head of Tailored Materials | Head of Polymer Development Group

Schmiedestraße 5
15745  Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-280

Fax +49 3375 2152-282

Torsten Lerz, M. A., M. Sc.

Contact Press / Media

Torsten Lerz, M. A., M. Sc.

Assistant to the head of the research division Polymeric Materials and Composites PYCO

Schmiedestraße 5
15745  Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-100

Fax +49 3375 2152-282

Sebastian Steffen

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Sebastian Steffen

Head of the working group
Semi-finished Components

Schmiedestraße 5
15745  Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-246

Fax +49 3375 2152-282

Mathias Köhler

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Mathias Köhler

Head of the working group
Structural Testing and Analytics

Schmiedestraße 5
15745  Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-278

Fax +49 3375 2152-282

Marcello Ambrosio, M.Sc.

Contact Press / Media

Marcello Ambrosio, M.Sc.

Head of the working group
Simulation and Design

Schmiedestraße 5
15745  Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-303

Fax +49 3375 2152-282

Felix Kuke

Contact Press / Media

Dipl.-Ing. Felix Kuke

Head of the working group
Sustainable Lightweight Technologies

Walther-Pauer-Str. 5
03046 Cottbus

Phone +49 355 69 2059

Fax +49 355 695152

Locations

 

Wildau | Cottbus

 

Polymer Materials and
Composites PYCO
 

Location Wildau

Schmiedestrasse 5 | 15745 Wildau

Phone +49 3375 2152-100

 

Center for Sustainable Lightweight Technologies ZenaLeb

Location Cottbus

Walther-Pauer-Strasse 5 | 03046 Cottbus

Phone  +49 355 69 2059

News of the research division PYCO

 

6.5.2021 | Commissioning of a waterjet cutting system at the Research Field Polymeric Materials and Composites PYCO

After three days of training by the plant manufacturer in the last week of March, a new waterjet cutting system was put into operation at the Cottbus site. This makes it possible to cut a wide range of materials, e.g. plastics, CFRP, aluminum, steel, both with pure water and with the addition of an abrasive. The material size can be up to 100 cm x 200 cm with a material thickness of max. 300 mm to cut a defined geometry. The system makes it possible to deepen the cooperation of the Fraunhofer IAP, research area PYCO with the FG Polymer-Based Lightweight Construction of the BTU in Cottbus and to use the precise shape of the material cut for a wide range of applications in project work.

© Fraunhofer IAP