• Skip to Management
  • Skip to Main menu
  • Skip to Page content
Adlershof Logo
  • WISTA
  • WISTA.Plan
  • WISTA.Service
WISTA direkt
Search
  • de
  • en
  • Adlershof Logo
  • About / Directory
    • Companies / Institutes
    • Science City in numbers
    • Direction / Maps
      • Bus / Train
      • By Car
      • Bicycle
      • Orientation / Maps
      • Trail of Thoughts
  • Newsroom
    • Overview
    • News
      • Social Media Stream
      • Success Stories
    • Events / Calendar
      • Adlershof Dissertation Award
      • Adlershof Research Forum
      • Long Night of Sciences Berlin
    • Adlershof Journal
    • Hot Topics
      • Adlershof Mission "Grand Challenges"
      • Circular Economy
      • Digital infra­structure / 5G campus network
    • Photos / Flyer / Downloads
      • Magazine archive
    • WISTA-Editorial Staff
  • Science / Technology
    • Overview
    • Technology Centres
      • Photonics / Optics
      • Biotech­nology / Envi­ron­ment
      • Micro­systems / Materi­als
      • IT / Media
      • Renewable Energy / Photovoltaics
    • Non-university Research
    • Universities / Colleges
      • Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
      • Services for Students
    • Young Talents / STEM / School Labs
    • Start-Ups
      • Adlershof Start-Up Centre IGZ
      • Adlershof Founder’s Lab
    • Networks / Management
      • Campus Club Adlershof
  • TV / Media
    • TV and Movie Production
    • Media Services / Companies
    • News and Events
    • Filming Locations
    • Costume Hire
    • GDR Film Archive
    • Tickets / Booking
  • Properties
    • Overview
    • Real Estate Rent
      • Office Space / Workspace / Laboratories
    • Real Estate Offers
      • Commercial Properties
    • ST3AM Working Environments / Coworking
    • Residential
    • Construction
      • Building Projects
      • Architecture
      • Webcam
  • Service
    • Overview
    • Gastronomy / Sport / Culture / Shopping
    • Jobs / Market
    • Social and Healthcare Facilities
    • WISTA-Business Services
    • Event Services / Guided Tours / Hotels
    • Facility Management
    • Downloads / Photos / Videos
    • Jobs for Refugees
  • Hood
    • Overview
    • History
    • Nature Park
    • Culture
    • Technology Park
    • Digital Tours
  • WISTA
  • WISTA.Plan
  • WISTA.Service
WISTA direkt

News

  • Overview
  • News
  • Events / Calendar
  • Adlershof Journal
  • Hot Topics
  • Photos / Flyer / Downloads
  • WISTA-Editorial Staff
  • Adlershof
  • Newsroom
  • News
04. September 2017

Looking into the Matter

A project group of the Fraunhofer-Institute IKTS is working on non-destructive testing methods

Credit: Fraunhofer IKTS

Is it possible to tell if a pineapple is ripe without cutting it open? Indeed, it is – using non-destructive testing methods. Ralf Schallert and his team at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS.

Biting on a pearl lets one determine its authenticity or whether it’s a cultured or a natural pearl. But there are other ways that do not involve damaging the pearl. Until now, non-destructive testing of pearl jewellery was done using x-rays. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), on the other hand, is less complex and non-intrusive, while producing high-resolution cross-section images of semi-transparent materials.

This is but one of the tasks of the scientists at the Fraunhofer-Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS. The institute’s project group in Adlershof, headed by Ralf Schallert and Prof. Norbert Meyendorf and his team, works together with medium-sized companies from the region. The research institute works together with manufacturing companies across several projects. “The Fraunhofer IKTS takes on some of the companies’ research and development tasks,” says Ralf Schallert, a mechanical engineer by trade.

One example of these cooperation efforts is a project that looks at the axes of the ICE, the German high-speed train, says Henry Scholz, one of six members of the project group. “The challenge was to develop a quick and automatised testing procedure that reliably detects fissures in the axes,” says Scholz. The goal is to get the trains back on the rails as quickly as possible.

The group staff uses a broad range of methods for testing materials, including x-ray, ultrasound and eddy-current testing. Only a fraction of those methods is available at the Adlershof office. The larger devices are located at the headquarters in Dresden and the Joint Lab "Technische Sicherheit" (“Technical Security”) Berlin, which is used together with other companies in the same building, the Centre for Biotechnology and the Environment I.

Here, the Fraunhofer staff works on improving methods of non-destructive testing. One way of doing this is by combining them with each other. They produce tailor-made applications, sensors and methods for ultrasound and eddy-current testing procedures.

Moreover, the Berlin-based project group watches over two so-called ZIM research networks. ZIM stands for Central Innovation Programme for SMEs, a programme sponsored by the ministry for economic affairs. The Prognet network, for instance, focuses on testing, forecasting and security of composite materials for application in wind power plants and lightweight design. The second research network “Zuverlässige Leistungselektronik ZuLe” deals with reliable power electronics components, which are gaining importance in electromobility.

The Fraunhofer IKTS headquarters in Dresden, while other branches are in Hermsdorf in Thuringia and Dresden-Klotzsche. The project group was based in Adlershof because of its unique cluster of industrial companies, project sponsors and start-up companies. The scientists plan on looking more closely at every-day applications of testing procedures in the future.

By Sven Titz for Adlershof Journal

www.ikts.fraunhofer.de/en.html

  • LinkedInshare0
  • Facebookshare0
  • WhatsAppshare0
  • E-Mail

The development of the Science and Technology Park Berlin Adlershof was and is co-financed by the European Union namely by EFRE. This concerns infrastructure development like construction of technology centres. Furthermore EFRE is used for international projects.

  • © WISTA Management GmbH
  • Legal Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Social Media Guide
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Newsletter
  • RSS
  • International
Member of:
Zukunftsort Adlershof Logo