Ralf Wehrspohn is the new Chairman of the Fraunhofer MATERIALS Group

Press Realease Fraunhofer Group MATERIALS /

The Fraunhofer Group for Materials and Components – MATERIALS has a new chairman: Prof. Ralf B. Wehrspohn, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, takes office today. Prof. Bernd Mayer, institute director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM will be the new deputy.

 

© Fraunhofer IMWS
Ralf Wehrspohn, Director of the Fraunhofer IMWS in Halle (Saale).
© Fraunhofer IFAM
Bernd Mayer, Director of the Adhesive Bonding Technology and Surfaces division at the Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen.

The 16 Fraunhofer institutes working in the field of materials science pool their expertise in the Fraunhofer Group for Materials and Components – MATERIALS. They therefore cover the entire value chain, from developing new materials and improving existing materials via production methods on a quasi-industrial scale and characterizing material properties to assessing the performance of components and systems. As a result, the Group supports partners from industry and the public authorities as an excellent R&D network. The Group’s approximately 2,200 researchers contribute their expertise particularly in the fields of energy and environment, mobility, health, plant engineering and construction, building and housing, microsystem engineering and safety.

Prof. Ralf B. Wehrspohn, head of Fraunhofer IMWS in Halle (Saale) since 2006, was previously the Group’s deputy chairman. With effect from October 1, the Group members unanimously elected him as the new chairman of the Fraunhofer MATERIALS Group and he was appointed to the position with a three-year term of office by the Fraunhofer senate. He succeeds Prof. Peter Elsner, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal. The Group’s new deputy chairman is Prof. Bernd Mayer, one of the two institute directors of the Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen.

Wehrspohn says, “I am looking forward to taking up the new position very much. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to my predecessor Peter Elsner. His work has made a significant contribution to positioning the Fraunhofer MATERIALS Group as a reliable and creative partner for industry.” During his term of office, Wehrspohn would like to focus on the digitalization of materials and will advocate for better visibility regarding the importance of materials science and engineering. “The proportion of material costs in the manufacturing sector in Germany is 35-55 percent. We can achieve considerable efficiency gains here through research and development. This has enormous advantages for the industrial location and at the same time helps to use limited resources in a more meaningful and sustainable way,” says the 48-year old physicist.

The MATERIALS Group is driving forward the topic of digitalization, for example, via the Materials Data Space® (MDS) initiative. Its aim is to make materials and material-intensive value chains Industrie 4.0-capable. In the key paper of the same name, the Group outlines how the concept of digital material twins can create the basis for material development, production and processing within Industrie 4.0 on an ideally cross-company, digital platform. This will enable shorter development times, learning manufacturing processes and completely new business models. It also gives rise to enormous potential for material efficiency, production efficiency and recycling. “This approach is already attracting great interest among companies. Our aim is to set global standards in the digitalization of materials and thus to secure an excellent competitive edge for German companies,” says Wehrspohn.

Prof. B. Mayer, who has headed the Department of Bonding Technology and Surfaces at the Fraunhofer IFAM since 2010, stresses the importance of intensive collaboration within the Group. He says it allows for a great breadth of specialist skills and at the same time a considerable depth of expertise, which benefits customers and partners of the Group. “Digitalization offers enormous opportunities but also brings with it the need for a great deal of research; for example, when it comes to the development of so-called programmable materials or the quest for more resource efficiency to ensure prosperity and quality of life for future generations. As a Group, we want to be not merely consultants and service providers but also a driver for these developments.”