Blog: Training at Fraunhofer IFAM

New developments thrive on research and development, i.e. on the generation of new knowledge. New knowledge is not an end in itself. New knowledge must find its way into application in order to be economically viable. To do this, it must be transferred from research and development to the manufacturing companies in industry and handicrafts. With its further training offers, the Fraunhofer IFAM is working to simplify this process. Successful and long-term technology transfer is only possible through the qualification of company personnel and the structuring of the organization of company production processes.

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.

The third Bremen Bonding Days will take place from 29 to 30 October 2025 at the Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen, Germany. Dr Holger Fricke, Head of the Department of Adhesive Bonding Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM, explains to us in an interview what the Bremen Bonding Days are and how they differ from the German-language »Bremer Klebtage«.

A misunderstanding is a communicative disturbance resulting from the difference between what is meant by a sender and what is understood by the recipient. It often occurs due to a lack of knowledge. We want to counteract this with this blog article, which deals with the misunderstood role of adhesive bonding technology in discussions about the circular economy.

The Product Safety Act (PSG) requires a "state of the art" for safe products. For demanding processes such as bonding and fiber composite technology, which cannot be tested non-destructively, ISO 9001 requires a quality management system. In order to meet the legal standard, specific quality assurance standards are introduced that are aimed at technologically specific requirements and cover the entire product life cycle.

Dr. Tanja Warratz explains the exchange formats and the involvement of the Continuing Education and Technology Transfer department in social media.

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.

TDr. Effi Baumgarten is responsible for the online learning offers in the Training Center for Adhesive Bonding Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM and gives an insight into the new course concept Adhesive Bonding Engineer Online (blended learning). Videos with professional speakers and with lectures by Fraunhofer experts, learning checks and group chats - these are just a few of the multimedia formats that make learning easier for participants in online self-study.

The Training Center for Adhesive Bonding Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM has been offering workforce training courses in adhesive bonding technology for company employees for over 30 years. What started as a local programme in Bremen has now become a global training programme at various locations around the world. For over 20 years, we have been working with partners who organise the courses on our behalf, using our course concept and our course materials.

The EU Action Plan for a Circular Economy, which describes the transition from a linear (»throw-away«) economy to a circular economy, is unfortunately often erroneously reduced to the topic of »recycling« in popular and political discourse. »The circular economy action plan takes a comprehensive, holistic approach to ecological sustainability assessment,« explains Professor Dr Andreas Groß, Head of the »Training and Technology Transfer« department at Fraunhofer IFAM (Bremen), »and does not just focus on individual elements such as recycling. The nine R strategies of the EU Commission serve as a guide for linking ecodesign and the circular economy.« In this context, adhesive bonding technology should not be reduced to the topic of »recycling« either. Adhesive bonding technology is already an ally of the circular economy and not its opponent, with its significant contributions, which must be correctly classified in technological, social and political terms.

The most important thing is to never stop asking questions - as Einstein once said. The refresher courses that the Fraunhofer IFAM offers at regular intervals also follow this credo. They are aimed at all participants from previous years of the respective DVS / EWF training courses who want to refresh their adhesive bonding knowledge and find out about the current status of the relevant qualification.

As part of the 22nd "Bremer Klebtage," we asked Dr. Matthias Popp to answer a few questions about his presentation titled "Debonding On Demand – Many Methods, One Goal." In our conversation, he explains the concepts and challenges behind the topic, discusses the technological and environmental aspects of debonding, and provides insights into future developments in this field.

The design spaces in industry and handicrafts are subject to a continuous process of change due to constantly changing technical, social and legal conditions. This change particularly affects adhesive bonding technology, as it is an essential joining technology in almost all areas and industries today. »Adhesive bonding technology has great technological, ecological and economic potential as the leading joining technology of the 21st century and is thus the basis for urgently needed innovations across all industries«, says Professor Dr. Andreas Groß, head of the »Workforce Qualification and Technology Transfer« department at Fraunhofer IFAM (Bremen). This knowledge must finally reach the political decision-making levels, because bureaucracy and regulatory dirigisme are developing into an unnecessary source of tension.

As part of the European Green Deal, the EU is planning numerous further measures for health and environmental protection with its »Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability«, published in 2020. This will have far-reaching consequences for European chemicals legislation and thus also for adhesive bonding technology. »This chemicals strategy could potentially lead to a paradigm shift, i.e. the previous risk-based assessment of chemicals and hazardous substances (hazardous substance definition according to the European CLP regulation) would be replaced in the future by a hazard-based assessment,« says Professor Dr. Andreas Groß, head of the »Workforce Qualification and Technology Transfer« department at Fraunhofer IFAM (Bremen). This also creates an essential problem for adhesive bonding technology, because a manageable tiger would become a guinea pig.

Since 1994, the Fraunhofer IFAM/Training Center for Adhesive Bonding Technology has been providing personnel-certifying training courses in adhesive bonding technology for company employees. What started out as a very small programme is now - 30 years later - a global industry standard under the umbrella of the European Federation for Welding, Cutting and Joining - EWF, which is used by participants from all five continents. The product-neutral, cross-industry and cross-hierarchy adhesive bonding technology personnel qualification is carried out worldwide in cooperation with German, European and non-European partners in accordance with the quality standards of the Fraunhofer IFAM. The awarding of the participants' final documents after successful examinations is always standardised in accordance with ISO 17024, so that these documents are also internationally comparable and have the same value, regardless of where in the world they were obtained under the umbrella of EWF and Fraunhofer IFAM.

Well-founded knowledge of all those involved is becoming increasingly important for successful adhesive bonding and at the same time this seems to be the biggest challenge. This is an overarching result of this year's survey on adhesive bonding technology, in which around 90 people took part. We spoke to Holger Best, Content Manager at the topic-focused knowledge management service provider ISGATEC GmbH, about the latest survey results.

In 2020 the Bremer FaserverbundPRAXIStage will take place for the third time. As a practice-oriented counterpart to the "Bremen Composite Days", participants will have the opportunity to train and expand their practical skills in handling composites. The special feature of this course is that the graduates take home a self-manufactured longboard made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic. For this purpose, there is a short refresher of the relevant knowledge about the production and processing of FVK components. The focus, however, is on manufacturing the component using the vacuum infusion process. We talked to course instructor Claas Hoffmann about this very special composites training course at the Fraunhofer IFAM.

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.

This year's "Bremer Klebtage" celebrates the anniversary "30 Years of Adhesive Bonding in Bremen." To mark the occasion, we invited Dr. Holger Fricke, Head of Adhesive Bonding Technology at Fraunhofer IFAM, for an interview. In our format "3 Questions for...", Dr. Fricke provides an exciting insight into his lecture on "Digitalization in Adhesive Technology."

Lena Bothur studied Bionics and Applied Materials Science and has been working at the Fraunhofer IFAM in the Advanced Training Center for Fiber Composite Materials since 2022. She is responsible for managing the online learning platform as well as the repair and manufacturer courses at the training center. This year, she is co-organizing the English-language course "Fiber Reinforced Plastic Specialist Online" in a blended learning format, together with Milan Kelch.