Advanced Materials

The Basis of Innovative Buildings

The quality of a building is immediately dependent on the properties of the materials used to construct it. In the business unit "Advanced Materials" the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance concentrates on the further development of classic materials as well as research on innovative construction materials and surface coatings. At the same time the appropriate manufacturing and processing technologies are developed and tested.

© Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance
Advanced Materials

The quality of a building is immediately dependent on the properties of the materials used to construct it. In the business unit "Advanced Materials" the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance concentrates on the further development of classic materials as well as research on innovative construction materials and surface coatings. At the same time the appropriate manufacturing and processing technologies are developed and tested.

Service Range
The efficient use of materials and energy is as much a central aspect as is the development of environmentally friendly and non-hazardous building materials. In the area of quality assurance the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance offers non-destructive testing methods and the development of testing systems. The service range also includes performance of system analyses and the analysis of requirements and generation of concepts for evaluation of the expected service life of the building materials. The Building Innovation Alliance thus covers the entire value creation chain of building materials development, from the concept to production and processing, all the way to recycling.

Open Field Testing
The Building Innovation Alliance is equipped with a state-of-the-art open field testing facility for long-term field tests, the largest of its kind in Europe. Here the durability of building materials can be investigated under realistic conditions and in original scale.

Sustainable Materials
In addition to improving the insulation properties of classic insulation materials such as polystyrene, research also focuses on the development of recyclable ecological construction foams made from renewable raw materials. Another focus area is the development of environmentally friendly fire retardants and innovative coating materials used in fire protection for the widest possible range of construction components.

Building Materials with Value Added - Application of Nanotechnologies in the Construction Industry
Nanotechnologies can be used to combine the conventional properties of classic building materials through targeted enhancement with additional characteristics. One example here is the use of phase change materials (PCM) to store heat in plaster systems and building facades.

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

AerogelPanels

Inexpensive Aerogel Panes for Window Retrofit Project

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

MOF2market

Sorption Materials and Coatings for Adsorption Processes

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Phenolic Foam

Fraunhofer CSE and Partners Develop New Bio-Based Phenolic Foam

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

SAM.SSA

New Phase Change Materials Based on Sugar Alcohols for Latent Heat Storage

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Urban Surfaces

Acoustic Potentials of Urban Surfaces

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Acoustic Metamaterials

Design and application of metamaterials for the reduction of noise and vibration for in- and outdoor environments

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Prolatent

Innovative process heat storage using organic phase change materials

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Energy-Efficient Window Thermal Control

Efficient Window Thermal Control with Nanocomposite Coatin

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Fungal infestation in fire protection coatings in outdoor areas

Coating systems on exterior wooden components are exposed to increased infestation through mould and blue-stain fungi. Selective use of biocides enables the avoidance of damage.

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Functionally-integrated, three-dimensional and variable production of bio-hybrid components with maximum organic content (ProBio)

In this project, Fraunhofer WKI is developing new forms of bio-hybrid-fiber-reinforced composites (bio-HFC) with the highest possible proportion of bio-based components, i.e. reinforcing fibers and/or plastic matrices.

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Transparent Protection System

The research project dealt with designing and testing a concept for protecting outside exposed cultural objects, by application of transparent membrane materials to preserve the optical effect of protected objects. Controlled ventilation was installed to optimize climate conditions within the enclosure.

 

Advanced Materials − The Basis of Innovative Buildings

Typhaboard

Innovative sustainable building material system.