They are completely different, yet together they make a brilliant combination. Improved performance and increased functionality.

Both are requirements for the materials of the future. Yet the relevant manufacturing processes must achieve greater efficiency and environmental friendliness. But is that possible? Scientists at the TU Berg Academy in Freiburg pursue a vision. High performance materials known as trip matrix composites.

An ingenious combination of steel and ceramics. Researchers aim to combine the properties of both materials in novel composite materials, which facilitate the production of higher strength and at the same time lighter components for a variety of applications.

Mechanical engineering and vehicle manufacturing are key areas of application. Imagine, for example, vehicle safety features such as crumble soons or wear components, such as excavator teeth or drilling heads. New composite materials make it possible to produce lighter, highly

loadable components with properties which are precisely tailored to specific loadings. This ambitious research project is based on an innovative cast steel material also developed in Freiburg, When subjected to external loading, the stacking of the atoms in the steel material is

modified in a way which increases the material's energy absorption capacity and its load resistance. This effect, the so-called trip effect, inspired the project's name. Moreover, scientists from the Freiburg University have discovered that the addition of ceramic particles further enhances the effect.

The result is a composite material which not only exhibits a high strength, but also has a high ductility. Four different production methods are being used to produce these new trip matrix composites on a laboratory scale. One innovative approach of creating steel ceramic composites relies on adding water and a binding agent to the steel ceramic mixture.

This allows the scientists to create a moldable mass which can be used to produce, amongst others, components with honeycomb and spaghetti structures. The material behaves like clay and can be molded to almost any shape at room temperature by using minimal force.

This allows us to produce complex or highly delicate components which offer excellent potential in the field of lightweight engineering. But how exactly do these new materials behave? What does their atomic structure look like?

And can ceramic and steel particles be combined well enough to yield a composite material with truly superior properties? We evaluate the characteristics of our composite materials depending on their composition and production parameters. The better the attachment between the ceramic and steel particles, the greater the compressive and tensile loads that our materials withstand.

A variety of load tests are being used to determine whether the scientists are on the right track. Three-dimensional topography is amongst the techniques used to show what is going on inside the material.

And indeed, subjecting the material to compressive or tensile loading leads to the desired structural reinforcement. In addition to material characterization, scientists participating in the collaborative research project are also developing mathematical models and computer-aided simulations with the aim of mathematically defining the interplay between the material properties, structure and performance.

In the future, it should be possible to design materials and components in a targeted way, which will in turn reduce both material consumption during manufacturing and the length of the manufacturing process itself.

To bring its vision to life and create functional steel ceramic composites for the future, the Freiburg University aims to establish basic guidelines for targeted, cost-efficient manufacturing processes until the year 2020.

The collaboration of nine institutes at Freiburg University ensures the achievement of that goal. The project has been very well received in Germany and enjoys a multi-million euro annual grant from the German Research Foundation.

This support enables in particular the promotion of young scientists and their involvement in research in a discipline that is vital to scientific and technological progress.