Hannover Messe 2008: EU project ExtreMat - breaking boundaries with revolutionary materials.

In order to develop materials that are capable of performing to a high standard under extreme conditions, research institutes from across Europe have come together to pool their resources. "ExtreMat" is an integrated project of the European Union, which is now being implemented in Garching by a European research and industry consortium under the direction of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP).

At Hannover Messe 2008 the project team will be presenting a cross-section of the ExtreMat program at a special group display. Hall 2 is home to the Innovations Market Research & Technology, and as such is an international hub of technology transfer. ExtreMat exemplifies the many synergies that are generated at Hannover Messe as a result of the multi-industry presence at the show. Visiting professionals at neighbouring trade fairs such as Subcontracting or Energy will find here many interesting points of departure for the industrial application of innovative materials. We put various questions about ExtreMat to the project's scientific coordinator, Dr. Christian Linsmeier from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Department of Materials Research, and Dr. Uwe Schüssler from Bayern Innovativ GmbH, the company responsible for the transfer of knowledge generated by ExtreMat.

What is the scope of this project - in terms of manpower and money?
Linsmeier: The project will run for five years, with projected costs of around EUR 35 million, co-funded to the tune of EUR 17.4 million by the EU. 37 organizations from twelve countries are involved in the project, covering all stages from basic scientific research to applications-oriented research and full industrial development. Well over 100 materials scientists are working actively on the project.

What exactly do you want to achieve with the project?
Schüssler: The purpose of ExtreMat is to develop new materials that can cope with extreme environments. New high-performance materials - for example, materials that can dissipate high heat fluxes, or ultra-thin protective layers that remain impervious to harmful substances even at high temperatures - will open up new areas of application in energy technology, electronics and space travel. Examples could include very effective heat sinks for high-performance electronics, new power plants and heat shields for spacecraft, or radiation-resistant components for use in fusion research or nuclear engineering. These new materials are also being studied for their spin-off potential, with possible applications in braking systems or gas turbines.

The aim of ExtreMat is to push material technologies beyond their current limits. Where do these limits currently lie in the various fields you are working in? And have you been able to go beyond them yet? Or do you expect a breakthrough in the very near future?
Linsmeier: The limits for the different categories of materials we are interested in before the start of the ExtreMat project can be summarized as follows:

Self-passivating protection materials: maximum heat resistance 1200 °C in oxygen-rich environments, severe erosion in hydrogen-rich environments (plasma).
Heat sink materials: heat flux removal up to 15 MW/m2 at a service temperature of 300 °C. Conductivity of copper alloys.
Radiation-resistant materials: stability under neutron doses of up to ten dpa at service temperatures up to 500 °C.
Integration and compounds: the technologies hitherto available for bonding metals to ceramics and ceramics to ceramics constitute a significant source of error, which frequently jeopardizes component safety.

In all the above project areas substantial advances have already been achieved under ExtreMat.

Are there limits which you consider cannot be overcome?
Linsmeier: What seemed technically impossible ten, twenty or thirty years ago is now entirely feasible. The main thing is to keep on testing the existing limits through innovative materials research and to push back the boundaries where we can. The completely new approaches being pursued by individual universities or scientific research establishments are of supreme importance here.

What in your view are the most important achievements of the project to date?
Schüssler: Apart from the excellent progress that has been made on the technical and scientific front, one of the key achievements of ExtreMat has been to kick-start a collaboration between partners who have not previously cooperated in the area of materials research, particularly with industry partners across a range of different industries.

In which areas of application is the need for new high-performance materials greatest?
Schüssler: In addition to the principal areas of application targeted by ExtreMat - space exploration, electronics and energy engineering - there is a need for such materials in the petrochemical industry and for selective applications in the mobility sector. These will be studied as spin-off applications within the framework of ExtreMat.

Which areas of application will be completely revolutionized by new materials in the short or long term?
Linsmeier: As an interdisciplinary technology, new materials contribute to key innovations in ways that are not always immediately apparent. The sector that is likely to be revolutionized the most by new materials is energy engineering. New materials are the key to developing an energy supply that does not produce greenhouse gases, whether via fusion technology, hydrogen technologies or carbon capture in coal-fired power stations. In other areas the effects will be less obvious. In electronics, for example, the problem of dissipating heat build-up has hitherto imposed limits on how far we can reduce the size of electronic components and computers. Here ExtreMat will help us to push the limits still further.

In which area of materials technology are the most striking advances now being achieved?
Linsmeier: The biggest leaps forward within the ExtreMat project have been made in the subprojects "protection materials" and "heat-sink materials". This will allow us to build in much higher safety margins for spacecraft when they re-enter the earth's atmosphere, and it will also enable us to produce more compact high-performance electronic components.

What will you be showing at Hannover Messe in 2008?
Schüssler: At Hannover Messe 2008 we will be showing a cross-section of all the work we are doing within the ExtreMat project. So we'll be covering all the different subprojects. As well as documenting the development work already done by the project partners, we'll also be looking at the practical application and marketing of the results. Hannover Messe gives us a platform where we can present the results of ExtreMat to a highly concentrated industrial audience. For smaller ExtreMat partners, who cannot stretch to a stand of their own at the show, this is an excellent opportunity for making contacts with interested parties from industry worldwide.