The Institute of Surface Technology is engaged in research and education in the field of production, characterization and application of thin films and surface modification. Besides the topics from mechanical and automotive engineering, the institute is active in all fields where function-optimized surfaces are used or required.
The IOT is focused on the following points of research:
The application-oriented fundamental research on thin film coating by physical vapor deposition (PVD) is carried out with a modern in-line vacuum coating system. The emphasis is placed on pulsed magnetron sputtering processes for deposition of displays (e.g. transparent conductive oxides), solar cells and architectural glazing (e.g. photocatalytic layers or switchable mirrors).
The plasma chemistry of dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) at atmospheric pressure, enabling very cost-efficient production processes, is investigated in basic-oriented projects.
Currently, topics of note are combinatorial processes for high-throughput investigation, methods to characterize plasma modified surfaces, mechanisms of plasma polymerization and surface modification as well as the application of DBD micro plasma for the surface treatment of porous and fibrous material and structured surface modification.
Processes of plasma nitriding and boriding are fundamentally explored and developed. The topic of plasma nitriding is the application of modern steel qualities. The as not yet industrialized plasma boriding will be scaled up and developed into a marketable commodity. Substrate material stainless steel (as a bi-polar plate in fuel cells), hot- and cold-working steel, aluminum and titanium are used
for lectures, seminar and exams:
Lectures and seminars are in the Fraunhofer Institut für Schicht- und Oberflächentechnik, Riedenkamp 2, 38108 Braunschweig.
Exams take place in room I.2.62, 2nd floor, Riedenkamp 2.
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Institute for Surface Technology
Riedenkamp 2
D 38108 Braunschweig