Blog: Training at Fraunhofer IFAM

The largest production site of Daimler AG is Mercedes-Benz Werk Bremen where currently about 400,000 vehicles are produced each year. Most of these are the C-Class and in particular the GLC. On average each of these vehicles contains 14 kilograms of adhesive. Reason enough for Daimler adhesive expert Dr. Lars Höper, in collaboration with Fraunhofer IFAM, to have developed a tailored training course for Werk Bremen and other production facilities.

Many components in trains that were previously screwed or welded together are nowadays held together with adhesives. To ensure that the trains always arrive safely at their destination, Uwe Berger supervises each step of adhesive bonding work at DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung GmbH in Werk Krefeld. He is the supervisor in charge (SIC) of adhesive bonding work at the company.

Experts from research, associations and industry meet regularly at the Fraunhofer IFAM for two days at the Bremen Composite Days to inform themselves about news from the field of fiber composite technology, to cultivate old contacts and to make new ones. On the occasion of this year's Bremen Composite Days Dr. Elmar Witten, Managing Director of AVK - Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e. V. gave a lecture on "Current developments and trends in the composites market". We took the opportunity to ask him about the market situation for fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP), AVRP's association work and the importance of further training for the FRP sector. In an interview, he also dares to give an outlook on possible new areas of application for composites in the near future.

From classical mass production to innovative, individualized, high-quality products – that is now the vision of manufacturing industry in China. The key for realizing this goal is optimally trained employees to drive innovation within companies. Workforce training is hence in demand in China like never before. Since 2012 the Training Center for Adhesive Bonding Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM has worked closely with the Shanghai based Shanghai Yifa Bonding Training Center to offer its training courses in the Chinese marketplace.

The Composite Engineer training course is unique. It covers the entire life cycle of a fiber reinforced plastic component. This comprehensive course offered by the Training Center for Fiber Composite Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM is based on the expertise of the Fraunhofer Lightweight Design Alliance, namely the expertise and know-how of nine Fraunhofer institutes. Prof. Dr. Andreas Büter, Head of the Fraunhofer Lightweight Design Alliance, explains the added value of the modular nature of the course and the comparison with a swarm of bees.

Like so many new materials and processes, natural fiber reinforced plastics were first developed out of necessity, when there was a steel shortage in the former DDR. Cotton from Central Asia was in contrast plentiful. This is the reason why it came to be that all the bodywork of Trabant cars was made from cotton fiber reinforced plastic, at the time a most novel material. Almost 100,000 tonnes of natural fiber reinforced plastics are processed today in Europe. Some 95% of this is in the automotive industry. Milan Kelch, now a Fraunhofer IFAM employee but an erstwhile member of the Biological Materials work group of Professor Müssig at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, developed cotton fiber reinforced plastics working with an international research team. The potential of these fascinating materials will be presented during the 3rd Bremen Fiber Composite Days on 27 and 28 March 2019.

This year the Training Center for Fiber Composite Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM is focusing on internationalizing its training courses. The internationalization of the Composite Engineer course, which was developed in collaboration with ten member institutes of the Fraunhofer Lightweight Design Alliance, is the first step in this direction. The first international course will start on 6 November 2019 and will meet the growing demand for an English language Composite Engineer course. Beate Brede, Head of the Training Center for Fiber Composite Technology and also Head of Talent Recruiting Management at Fraunhofer IFAM, explains the features of the international Composite Engineer course, its structure, and who the course is targeted at in this interview.

Fibre-reinforced plastics usually have high specific stiffness and strength. This makes them suitable materials for lightweight construction. They are used in aviation, marine, wind energy, rail vehicle construction and many other industries. However, in their application they are exposed to enormous environmental influences which can have a detrimental effect on their service life: Temperature fluctuations, humidity, UV radiation, mechanical stress, salts or other chemical compounds. The consequential damage is often not visible and is not noticed, but this can have fatal consequences. Therefore, comprehensive knowledge of the properties of fibre-reinforced plastics is necessary as well as the possibility of professional repair.