Material design combined with adapted process solutions is the focus of the Professorship for Development and Functionalisation of Metallic Materials, which was established by the TU Bergakademie Freiberg at the Institute of Materials Science and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW) Dresden. Particularly in the fields of mechanical and plant engineering, medical and energy technology and the automotive industry, the researchers are focussing on mapping process chains through to the prototype. In particular, improved material properties should lead to longer component service lives and thus conserve resources.

For example, the increasing demand from industry for cutting and forming tools with a longer service life under extreme loads requires the development of new types of high-performance steels with high strength, wear resistance and adequate toughness. In close collaboration with the IFW Dresden, the research team succeeded in developing new alloys that already exceed the mechanical properties of conventionally manufactured tool steels in the as-cast state.

This is achieved through a customised chemical composition and relatively high cooling rates during the casting process. The new steels have already been validated in industry as a cutting material in various systems, such as for cutting plastic-metal composites or for cutting medical filters.

In the field of medical technology, the aim is to develop new biodegradable metallic materials for implants and to characterise them across scales. The aim of these special implant materials is for them to dissolve completely after tissue healing. This means that possible complications with long-term implants can be avoided. Research activities for biodegradable metallic implant materials are focussed on the development of iron alloys for vascular supports (stents). New materials are intended to achieve a high level of compatibility between the implant and the surrounding tissue and, among other things, improve the mechanical properties compared to the corrosion-resistant reference steel.

Adapted coating solutions are also being developed for such stents. To this end, the researchers are in close interdisciplinary national and international dialogue with experts from the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine.