Blog: Training at Fraunhofer IFAM

Contact restrictions, distance regulations and home office - we are all trying to implement the new circumstances brought about by the Corona crisis in the best possible way. For us too, this situation means: rethinking, remaining creative and finding new solutions! With a specially developed hygiene and room concept as well as various digital solutions, we ensure that our further training offers continue to be available to you in full and in the same quality. Prof. Dr. Andreas Groß, head of the department for further education and technology transfer at the Fraunhofer IFAM, will give an insight into current challenges and approaches to solutions.

Ten participants successfully completed the first blended learning course of the Bonding Technology Training Center at the Fraunhofer IFAM in fall 2019. The theoretical contents of the course to become a DVS®/ EWF bonding practitioner took place online for the most part. This online phase was supplemented by a three-day presence phase at the institute, during which the theoretical knowledge previously learned was put into practice. Dr. Effi Baumgarten is responsible for the blended learning offers in the Bonding Technology Training Center at the Fraunhofer IFAM and provides an insight into the new course concept.

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.

The energy turnaround is a major topic of the current time. There are many starting points for this, such as optimisation in mobility. After all, who hasn't heard of it: it takes 20 minutes by car to get to work, and an hour in public transport. So who chooses the more environmentally friendly option of public transport? Alstom has addressed this problem and, with the help of bonding technology, has developed a train construction that - compared to diesel vehicles - works with an alternative, environmentally friendly drive technology.

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.

Bonding technology has a long history - especially in the wood industry. At the Bremer Klebtage 2019 trade fair, Maik Schmolke from nolax explained how the bone glue of that time developed into fully automated high-performance processes and revolutionized the industry like a one-second adhesive. nolax invents and develops new adhesive technologies and thus opens up new markets for the adhesives industry. Maik Schmolke himself has completed the entire course program of the Fraunhofer IFAM in the field of bonding, from the bonding specialist to the adhesive bonding engineer and participation in the examination board. At nolax, he also conducts some projects in cooperation with the Fraunhofer IFAM to combine the know-how of practice and research.

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 Fraunhofer IFAM is considered an expert in the field of manufacturing technology and applied materials research. As a knowledge mediator, it has been offering a wide range of courses in the field of further education for 25 years. It started with adhesive bonding technology and for some years now it has also been offering courses in the field of fiber composite technology. Stefan Simon is a research associate and lecturer at the Fraunhofer IFAM's Fiber Composites Training Center. In an interview, he explains to us which offers are available in this field and why participants always experience an aha moment in the course.

Manfred Peschka is a co-founder of Purenum GmbH, a spin-off from the Fraunhofer IFAM, where he was responsible for the department of adhesive manufacturing for many years and also managed further training in this field. Together with his colleague Dr. Ingo Grunwald, Manfred Peschka has now developed an adhesive as part of a BMBF project that makes it possible to glue together and thus remove previously intangible kidney stone fragments. In an interview, Mr. Peschka explains how this came about, what opportunities bonding technology offers and why further training in this field is so important.