Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen was founded in 1980 with the mission of conducting application-oriented research and development in the field of production technology. The Institute offers a work space of more than 6000 m², from which 3500 are designated for the shop floor and laboratory facilities, where state-of-the-art projects are developed. The structure of the Fraunhofer IPT offers solutions to highly specific problems as well as problems that require integrated system-wide solutions. This is done by combining interdisciplinary contributions from the fields of process technology, machine and control components, metrology, quality management, technology planning and organisation. The Fraunhofer IPT has over 100 highly qualified scientists and 30 technicians available.
More than 50% of the Institute’s budget is covered directly from projects with the industry, especially with small and medium-sized enterprises. The main research and development field is process technology, which encompasses the design and optimisation of manufacturing processes aiming improved levels of performance. The department of Fraunhofer IPT involved in this project is the fine machining and optics group, which sees itself as a centre of competence on the subjects of fine processing technologies and the manufacture of optics and moulds. They focus on developing deterministic material removal and cutting models in order to transpose these theoretical models into industrial practice. Their aims are surface qualities in the nanometre range and dimensional accuracy in the sub-micron range. Among others their investigations are focused on technologies for manufacturing of steel surfaces, including grinding, polishing and diamond cutting.

Website: Fraunhofer IPT