Superlight and extremely durable—that’s what the materials of the future will be like.

They must be high-performance, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly—these are the challenges facing scientists and researchers. Through simple processing of natural fibers, high static and dynamic forces can be absorbed and transmitted while adhering to the principles of lightweight construction. Another advantage lies in the energy-efficient manufacturing processes compared to metallic components. The goal, therefore, is full functionality combined with cost-effective processing and low product weight. For this reason, in addition to the development of manufacturing technologies, strength testing and simulation methods for crack propagation play a key role in the research work at HSZG.

Wafer-thin and incredibly strong—that’s how the surface layers developed at the ZIRKON Institute . Within its Surface Technology and Analytics working group, the institute conducts research in the field of a wide variety of surface coatings as well as the necessary pretreatments, meaning that issues related to surface structure and material selection also play a decisive role.