Plastics technology

Plastics technology: Biomaterial meets processing technology

In addition to the development of new biobased and bioinspired materials, the question of their compatibility with traditional material processing techniques for an industrial application arises.

 

Success factor processability

Initial fundamental investigations of the material processing of our new innovative materials are an integral part of our development work. Processing at very small and small scale serves primarily to advance the development of new bio-based materials not only by application and properties, but also from the aspect of processability.

Accompanying studies on material processing provide customers and partners with basic information for the future processing of newly developed biobased and bioinspired materials.

These biobased materials can be processed in scales ranging from several grams to low kilogram quantities with industry-oriented machines.

Standard forming processes such as extrusion, injection molding, and thermal forming are available.

 

Analysis of newly developed materials

In addition to the evaluation of processing parameters, a broad method platform of standardized test procedures and analysis of the newly developed materials is available.

Services

Processability

  • Extrusion for very small quantities (ThermoHaake Mini CTW)
  • Injection molding with piston plasticization incl. molds for the production of test specimens for mechanical testing (ThermoHaake MiniJet)
  • Laboratory press 20 x 20 cm contact surface

The following systems will be available soon:

  • Extruders for the compounding of very small and small quantities
  • Injection molding with screw plasticization incl. tool for the production of test specimens for mechanical testing
  • Recipe screening and development on a very small scale (low material consumption)
  • Evaluation of processing parameters for upscaling (excluding very small quantities)
  • Preparation of test specimen geometries for standardized methods for the determination of material characteristics (thermal, thermo-mechanical, mechanical)

 

Analytics

  • Rheological analysis of materials (starting in 2022)
  • Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (starting in 2022)
  • Thermal analysis (thermogravimetry, thermal sorption behavior, differential scanning calorimetry)

Reference projects

Durationt: October 2021 – September 2022

Tape2Grape –

Biobased, biodegradable grafting tape for fruit growing and agriculture

Tape2Grape is a 100 percent biobased multifunctional grafting tape for fruit and ornamental trees, which can be equipped with individual biological ingredients. Tape2Grape is biodegradable and therefore makes an important contribution to holistic, ecological agriculture.

 

 

Duration: January 2019 – December 2023

LTBP ‒

Laboratory for Technical Biopolymers

The Laboratory for Technical Biopolymers is a project funded by the State of Bavaria and serves to support companies, especially SMEs, on their way to innovative and sustainable substances and materials as well as to resource-efficient processes. At Fraunhofer IGB, specialists from chemistry, biology and process engineering are working together on the project.

 

Duration: April 2017 – March 2020

TerPa –

Terpenes as building blocks for biobased polyamides

In the TerPa project, which is funded by the BMEL via the FNR, amorphous or semi-crystalline polyamides are being developed from terpenes produced as waste in wood processing. In this way, we aim to open up new areas of application for these high-performance materials.

Duration: July 2019 – June 2022

ChitoMat –

Holistic Chitin conversion to materials for 3D printing application and performance animal feed additives

Holistic Chitin conversion to materials for 3D printing application and performance animal feed additives.

Duration: October 2020 – November 2021

LiMeOx –

Monoterpene ester oxides as biobased plasticizers for polymers

In the LiMeOx project tailor-made biobased plasticizers are produced from monoterpenes.

 

Further projects

 

BiOptik

TAKEMA