Fraunhofer-GesellschaftStifterverband Award for Science 2010
A new composite material: Diamond-coated ceramics DiaCer®
Scientists from four Fraunhofer institutes, together with partners from industry, succeeded in producing a new composite material and in making it useable for applications. The composite material, „diamond-coated ceramics DiaCer®," combines the best of both materials. Any place where components and tools are subjected to heavy strain – such as in pumps or forming and shaping dies – DiaCer® offers maximum wear-resistance coupled with low values of friction. In recognition of their achievement, the interdisciplinary team is bestowed the Stifterverband Award for Science.
The basis is a silicon-nitride or carbide ceramic, which researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Dresden modified for the diamond coating. Their mission was to find out how to craft the ceramics so that the diamond coating adheres firmly and evenly to the base body. That is quintessential to the lifecycle. Colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute for Materials Mechanics IWM in Freiburg provided important insights on this through simulations with the materials and components; additional insights were gained from the investigations on ceramics processing by colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Construction Engineering IPK in Berlin. „We then worked on the coating, and designed the systems," says project coordinator Dr. Lothar Schäfer of the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST in Braunschweig.