Press Releases

We know it from car journeys, among other things: Again and again, you see damage to the fabric of bridge structures. If damage such as spalling concrete is visible, the actual problem has probably existed for many years. One of the most urgent causes of damage is the corrosion of reinforcing steel caused by water penetrating the structure. The risk of this leading to a loss of substance and load-bearing capacity is greatly increased. In order to detect the cause of the often invisible damage as early as possible, the SmartWire-Sensor competence center, founded by the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP and Klaus Faber AG, is pursuing the goal of developing sensors for the early detection of water ingress. The aim is to significantly strengthen sustainability and safety in critical infrastructure. Please read more...

The transition to environmentally friendly and low-carbon steel production in Europe requires a considerable reorganization and restructuring of steel production processes. This applies in particular to the implementation of new and innovative steel production methods. To plan and manage these enormous challenges and ensure sustainable steel production, a user-friendly digital platform for networked steel production is to be developed as part of the EU project “DiGreeS”*  –under the leadership of the Fraunhofer IZFP in Saarbrücken – with a total of 11 European partners from industry and research. The European Union is funding the project with around 5 million euros. Please read more ...

Under the slogan Sensor and Data Systems for Safety, Sustainability, and Efficiency, the new image film of the Fraunhofer IZFP in Saarbrücken illustrates its research diversity in the field of applied and industry-related research. Please read more ...

The collapse of the Carola Bridge in Dresden clearly shows how important it is to assess the condition of buildings and critical infrastructure in advance using monitoring systems. This is not only essential for safety, early detection of damage can also mean cost savings. In the joint project “ImaB-Edge”, materials research and testing facilities are working together with hardware and software developers, construction companies and infrastructure operators to develop an electronic system for the permanent monitoring of the condition of infrastructure structures. Please read more ...

Material inspection of wheelsets for rail cars is an integral part of safe rail transportation. In smaller workshops, this inspection is usually carried out manually. Due to the fleeting nature of the data, it has not been possible to store and thus trace the inspection results. The PASAWIS inspection system now represents the next generation of wheelset inspection. How this works, experts from Fraunhofer IZFP will be demonstrating by means of a wheel rim inspection from 24 to 27 September 2024 at the 14th InnoTrans in Berlin (Messe Berlin, ExpoCenter City, Hall 23, Stand 240). Please read more ...

With the global population continuing to grow, food waste not only presents a resource problem but also carries a significant cost factor. Now, a new AI-supported multisensor application developed by the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT is being used to screen perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables. This technology carefully detects quality features even under the surface, making it possible to predict the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. It can be used on entire crates at the touch of a button — and customized with the addition of other sensors. Please read more ...

The transformation fund will be used to finance the establishment of two cooperative research groups in close cooperation between Saarland University of Applied Sciences (htw saar) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP. The focus is on researching new methods to conserve resources in industrial production through closed-loop processes. After the start-up phase, the new research fields will be permanently based at the Fraunhofer IZFP in Saarbrücken in future. Please read more ...

These days, the majority of consumable and everyday items are made from petroleum-based plastic. In Germany alone, some six million tons of plastic waste are generated every year. Approximately half of this is mechanically recycled into new materials; the rest is used for energy recovery. Incinerating this waste releases CO2, a greenhouse gas. So from a climate and environmental protection point of view, it is important to keep more plastics in the materials cycle. As part of the Waste4Future flagship project, eight Fraunhofer institutes are developing new ideas and processes to significantly improve the mechanical recycling rate for plastic materials. Please read more ...

Imagine a world where manufacturing becomes smarter, more efficient, and remarkably innovative. It's no longer just a vision; it's a reality with the unveiling of the groundbreaking “SeConRob“ project (Self-configuring Multi-Step Robotic Workflows). This exciting initiative, supported by Horizon Europe, is set to transform the manufacturing landscape from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2026, with a budget of €2,992,178. We are delighted to introduce you to the key players behind this innovation – PROFACTOR GmbH (Austria), Safe Metal (France), Otto Fuchs (Germany), ACS (Germany), ECL (France), Fraunhofer IZFP (Germany) and Marposs (Italy). Please read more ...

Against the background of an aging infrastructure, determining the condition of critical structures such as bridges, sewage treatment plants or dams is becoming increasingly important in Germany in order to maintain public safety. But industrial sites also depend on a functioning infrastructure for economic reasons. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding “ImaB-Edge“ with approx. 5.6 million euros. Please read more ...

A planned service life of structures can only be achieved if the quality-assured execution of construction measures and the necessary maintenance measures during the service life phase are coordinated. This is why, it is usually necessary to record component-specific characteristic values non-destructively and with high accuracy of the measured value recording and localization. How this works will be presented by experts of the Fraunhofer IZFP from May 9 to 12, 2023 at the 35^th Control in Stuttgart (Hall 7, Booth 7301) with “3D-SmartInspect“, the intelligent assistance system for digitizing manual inspection. Please read more...

Saarland’s Minister President Tobias Hans and the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, signed an agreement today to establish the Fraunhofer Center for Sensor Intelligence. It will address the entire innovation chain in the pioneering field of intelligent sensor technology, bring together core areas of expertise from the regional research landscape and develop them further. The center will be housed in a new building on the campus of Saarland University as part of a joint project between the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP. Please read more ...

Good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes. But wait no more! Shorter product development timeframes not only save time and money, but also improve competitiveness. This can be achieved with faster and more efficient testing processes. Fatigue tests [Ermüdungsversuche (EF)] on completed aircraft take up a significant portion of the time spent on aircraft development and certification. The aim is to reduce the time between the start of the project and certification from around eight years down to five. The ”F-REE” (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft RapidEF Enablers) project is working to develop and optimize innovative AI processes for use in industrial environments. Its main focus is on accelerating and significantly improving the reliability of testing processes. Doing so will also circumvent the time-intensive process of manually interpreting recorded data. Please read more ...

In the attendance of numerous high-ranking guests, the 50th anniversary of Fraunhofer IZFP was celebrated with a large ceremony in the auditorium of Saarland University. Around 130 guests from politics, business, industry and research accepted the invitation. Please read more ...

In a joint appointment process between the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Saarland University, Bernd Valeske was selected for a dual role: After his recent appointment as the executive director of Fraunhofer IZFP in Saarbrücken, he has now also been awarded the professorship for cognitive sensor systems at the university. Both measures are intended to strengthen collaboration between both institutions and to advance joint projects in engineering sciences. Please read more ...

Time-consuming destructive inspection processes for quality assurance result in huge costs due to damage or destruction of the products. Process deviations that are detected too late can lead to a considerable amount of scrap. Furthermore, clear identification and complete traceability of each object at any time during processing enables the optimization of product quality and resource efficiency, thus being essential prerequisites for the development of self-organizing value chains (I4.0). Fraunhofer IZFP experts will present solutions to both problems at EuroBLECH in Hannover from October 25 to 28, 2022 (Hall 27, Booth E8). Please read more ...

No wall is too steep for them, they walk upside down on ceilings, their fine-haired feet stick better than any professional glue without leaving any traces, and they defy gravity: the feet of geckos! They are of equal interest to researchers in materials science and in AI research. This effect of the gecko's feet is now to be exploited in the joint project “GecKI“ to develop energy-efficient, auto-adaptive and product-independent adhesive pads for robotic gripping systems. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding “GecKI“ with approx. 1.5 million euros. Please read more ...

The German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is supporting the SmartPigHome project with 1.6 million euros as part of the Federal Program for Livestock Husbandry. The joint project involves the development of an interactive game system focused on animal welfare, creating a smart barn environment for pigs and optimizing it as the “mood in the barn” changes.

With the SmartPigHome joint project, the consortium is developing an interactive game system focused on animal welfare. The system will analyze the barn environment and then provide digital activities for the pigs. The process will take into account environmental factors such as air quality, temperature and light levels, and sensors installed in the barn will also monitor animal activity, noise and lying patterns. AI-based algorithms trained by vets and farmers are used to connect and interpret the data, forming the basis to actively manage an interactive barn environment. Please read more ...

They are unassuming and can thus almost be overlooked - but in the future they can possibly be used thousands of times in Germany to save human lives. We are talking about intelligent sensors for monitoring wall anchors, which have now been installed in Große Straße in Osnabrück, Germany.

The small gray boxes have now been mounted on the L&T building in Grosse Strasse and finally connected to the wire rope that holds the street lighting in Osnabrück's pedestrian zone, both with the help of a hydraulic lift. The special nature of the boxes can only be seen inside them: A novel sensor system continuously records data on loads and movements of the anchors, transmitting it via the LoRaWAN radio network of the public utility. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP can read this data and determine whether the anchors are still safe. If not, an automatic message is generated. Please read more ...

A sustainable society with climate-neutral processes requires significant adjustments in the value chains, which are only possible through innovations. Seven Fraunhofer Institutes are pooling their expertise in the lighthouse project “Waste4Future“ to develop new solutions for this goal, from the raw material base to material flows and process engineering right to the end of a product's life cycle. In particular, they want to increase energy and resource efficiency in the use of plastics and thus pave the way for a chemical industry that requires fewer fossil raw materials and produces fewer emissions. Please read more ...

Parents-to-be are familiar with them – ultrasound images of their unborn child: Pin sharp and brilliant, they convey an almost photo-realistic level of detail and a deep impression of the child in the womb. The Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP is researching and developing a technology to bring this kind of vivid images to industrial applications: As part of a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), scientists of the research institute in Saarbrücken have started to develop a novel imaging method that will generate vivid images of microstructural changes and stress distributions in real time. This technology will provide significant information on the load capacity and lifetime of steel components in a completely new way. Please read more ...