Tribological or anti-friction coatings are used for dry lubrication of materials. For this purpose anti-friction coatings may only show low coefficients of friction and weak adhesion to their friction partners. To achieve this, there are various approaches to comply these demands. Solid lubricants such as graphite or PTFE particles can be incorporated into the coating or polymer resins can be optimized by means of structural modification to a minimum of frictional resistance...

A biological organism can repair damage up to a certain degree by self healing. A transfer of this self healing strategy onto man-made materials would result in a prolonged lifetime and considerably reduced costs. For example, the worldwide yearly costs caused by corrosion are estimated to a total of 300 billion us dollars...

This research project seeks ways to come up to mechanically optimized materials with polymeric materials by introducing a spontaneous orientation order.

Long chains of polymer materials become entangled themselves. The liquid and the glass state such materials are characterized by a short-range order of position and orientation of the chain segments. Transitioning to a crystalline or partly crystalline phase a position long-range order of chain segments establishes and with it an orientation order. This can be far-reaching and can then be described as a long-range order.

Low molecular systems…

This study followed the scientific approach of identifying active sites for electrochemical, corrosive processes on hot dipped galvanized steel and the creation of a material with selective deposition properties that could inhibit the corrosive activity of these weak spots. This study firstly involved high lateral resolution investigations on surface element composition and electrochemical micro probe techniques that identified weak zones on HDG steel substrate. Applying scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy it was found that aluminum in HDG alloys (ZnAl…

The aim of the project is the synthesis, the modification and characterization of melamine nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are incorporated in carious coating systems to achieve a desired property profile of the coating...

Because of their structural and mechanical properties inorganic/organic hybrid materials are interesting for the material research. Role models of such materials can be found in nature. The most famous example is probably the seashell which has through its special layer structure consisting of successive organic biopolymer and calcium carbonate an extremely high breaking resistance. The breaking resistance of the seashell is 3000 times higher than that of the main component calcium carbonate. Also, the shimmer of the mother of pearl is an interesting side effect of the specific…

One part of the Layer by layer technique focuses on the building of multilayers based on particles alternating with polyelectrolytes. During the dipcoating process the electrostatic self assembly of the oppositely chargedpolyelectrolyte on the substrate take place. The anionic stabilized dispersion is based on diphenylethylene-blockcopolymers (DPE). The deposition of the dispersion is controlled by the pH of the solution and therefore by the zeta potential.

Layer by layer and electrophoretic deposition of aqueous graphene dispersions result in novel materials with extraordinary properties. Positive and negative charges are introduced via non-covalent bonding between pristine graphene sheets and stabilizer particles or monomers respectively. Thin Films can be produced by anodic deposition of negative charged Graphene Sheets. Possible applications include conductive coatings with increased mechanical properties and solar cells.