Safer Materials - Safe and reliable materials
In the past, materials research has focused primarily on high functional density as well as maximum mechanical performance so that high-wage countries can offer competitive products on the world market. High-performance materials play an important role in many high-tech applications and also in the context of the energy turnaround to conserve resources and develop sustainable technologies. These materials already place very high demands on the individual employee in the selection of raw materials as well as in the production of the material property profile. In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent, especially in the area of human influence, that unpredictable failures of such materials can occur. The consequences of this have included catastrophic accidents or high economic losses. The reasons for this are manifold and depend on special material properties of the high-performance materials and on the loads on the material. In particular, however, the influence of humans on the material properties and thus on the safety and reliability as well as the acceptance of a material in society has not been taken into account so far. In the future, the problem described will be of increasing importance, as the number of high-performance materials increases and many influencing factors become more significant due to globalization. Among other things, the origin of raw materials should be mentioned here. Accordingly, a new unique sub-discipline in the field of materials research is to be created at the University of Kassel, which will holistically
- creates methods and technical know-how to ensure that materials are safe and reliable even in the range of their performance limits and under diverse external influences,
- understands the interactions between human activities and material properties, and
- takes into account the future availability and social acceptance of materials.
Under the leadership of Prof. Heim (FB 15, Plastics Engineering), the working groups of Prof. Brückner-Foit (FB 15, FG Quality and Reliability), Prof. Scholtes (FB 15, FG Metallic Materials), Prof. Ricoeur (FB 15, FG Technical Mechanics/Continuum Mechanics) and Prof. Sträter (FB 15, FG Industrial and Organizational Psychology) are also involved in this LOEWE focus funded by the state of Hesse.
Two subprojects are being worked on by the WdBB department: