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Research institute of the Kassel LOEWE research area Safer Materials now accessible as a 3D model in Science Spaces

From additive manufacturing to injection molding, from thermal analysis to scanning electron microscopy and many more topics: the Institute of Materials Engineering (IfW) at the University of Kassel, which comprises the five specialist disciplines of plastics engineering, metallic materials, mechanical behaviour of materials, granularity of structural information in materials engineering and extreme light for material structures, can now also be visited virtually. The virtual tour also includes the research facilities of LOEWE-Safer Materials (2015-2018).
Visitors to the model can choose between a video tour and independent virtual navigation from room to room with a click of the mouse or simply select individual rooms to visit them directly. The numerous research devices and machines used by the institute's scientists to work on the further development of materials can be clicked on, opening a window that provides information and images or videos for further explanation.
As part of the Science Spaces series by Hessen schafft Wissen, the 3D model was created by photographer Steffen Böttcher on behalf of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture via HA Hessen Agentur GmbH.
One of the IfW's major goals is to save natural resources by developing innovative and smart materials and to integrate the processed materials into a sustainable circular economy. This reduces their ecological footprint in industry and individually and makes an important contribution to meeting the European Union's target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
The LOEWE Safer Materials focus, which was funded from 2015 to 2018, created methods and technical expertise to make materials safe and reliable even at their performance limits and under a wide range of external influences. The focus was on the selected material classes of high-strength concretes and steels, secondary aluminum and bio-based plastics. The scientists also investigated the interactions between human actions in the manufacturing and processing process and the material properties, which had previously received little attention.