Sparkling concrete
Anyone who thinks concrete has to be gray and boring is in for a sparkling surprise! They can find shining examples to the contrary at the TU Berlin stand during HANNOVER MESSE 2016.

These precast concrete products display artistically arranged pinpoints of light that cannot be felt or seen when dormant. So illuminated lines, texts and logos can be made to appear and disappear at will. The concrete comes in a range of shades from white through to anthracite and can be fashioned in eye-catching designs. The points of light are created using basic LEDs. The precast concrete shapes can be used in homes, living areas and hotels, as store decoration or for security purposes.

Technische Universität Berlin
Strasse des 17. Juni 135
10623 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 30 314-21934
Fax: +49 30 314-23222
www.siut.eu

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Benjamin Westerheide
Hall 2, Stand B33, co-exhibitor with TU Berlin ScienceMarketing
E-mail: info@siut.eu

Unlock the fourth dimension - with smart materials and 3D printing
Water pipes that auto-regenerate themselves or adapt their diameter according to the water pressure, self-building robots and blossom that opens in contact with water – the future lies in 4D printing. A new dimension is set to be unlocked by combining smart materials with 3D printing. Adding ultrasound to the 3D equation can even create self-repairing materials, such as plastic pipes that "bleed" liquid polymers to repair any damage.

Anyone who'd like to learn how this works should head to the 2nd Additive Manufacturing Symposium on "Constructing the Impossible - 3D Printing Revolutionizes Mechanical Engineering" during HANNOVER MESSE 2016. Nine eminent experts will be presenting papers on the practice and future of innovative additive manufacturing systems and discussing the subject with the audience on Thursday, 28 April. The event is being organized by the German Engineering Federation (VDMA).

2nd Additive Manufacturing Symposium:
"Constructing the Impossible – 3D Printing Revolutionizes Mechanical Engineering"
Date: 28 April 2016, Time: 2–6 p.m.
Convention Center (CC), Room Bonn

Innovative attachment gives robots more finesse
Trickier tasks have eluded the grasp of automated robots up till now and have remained a manual process. But help is at hand from the new end-of-arm tool from FerRobotics that gives robotic arms the necessary "sensitive touch". The robot's movements don't even need intricate programming, as the arm feels what it’s doing and reacts in response. FerRobotics from Linz, Austria, is demonstrating the wide range of applications for this contact-sensitive automation at HANNOVER MESSE 2016. Its end-of-arm tool can perform compact robotic applications such as gluing, printing, foiling, inserting, mounting, polishing, cleaning or laminating - even ironing car seats.

FerRobotics' active contact flange (ACF) equips the robotic arm with the requisite "sense of touch" - it's a sensitive, mechatronic actuator and sensor element with a high level of process reliability. Companies can now use this tool to automate many tasks that were previously impossible because of the high level of flexibility or sensitivity required. The contact element enables the devices to “feel” what they are doing and intuitively modify their actions, thus making the robot "touch-sensitive".

For example, the ACF robotics solution can automatically smooth the edges of wind-turbine rotor blades as the robotic arm quickly and precisely follows the surface contours. The active contact flange maintains constant pressure throughout and can interactively compensate surface tolerances of up to 100 millimeters.

FerRobotics Compliant Robot Technology GmbH
Science Park 4, 4th floor
Altenbergerstrasse 69
4040 Linz
Austria
Tel.: +43 720 1081-0701
Fax: +43 720 1081-0710
www.ferrobotics.at

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Dr. Ronald Naderer
Hall 17, Stand F02
Tel.: +43 660 563-6982
E-mail: ronald.naderer@ferrobotics.at

A bite-sized course in LTE …
Our cellphone suppliers' LTE coverage improves from year to year - but still many users experience poor reception or disappointing data transmission rates. Visitors to HANNOVER MESSE 2016 can learn how to take matters into their own hands at the stand run by ime mobile solutions GmbH.

Anyone who’s up for the challenge can take a free online course offering a well-explained introduction to the physics behind this mobile telephony standard. Participants are offered bite-sized lessons in approx. five-minute videos spread over 13 days - so they're palatable enough to digest. Experts offer handy tips and tricks in the LTE seminar that can easily be used to troubleshoot problems.

ime mobile solutions GmbH
Borsigstrasse 7-9
93092 Barbing
Germany
Tel.: +49 9401 9333-0
Fax: +49 9401 9333-12
www.ime.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Christian Dittrich
Hall 6, Stand E36
E-mail: info@ime.de

Universal energy storage
Solar energy, electric-powered transportation or electromobility are clearly the way forward. However, the batteries needed to store the energy are proving a stubborn stumbling block.

At HANNOVER MESSE 2016, FORSEE POWER is exhibiting the High Power LTO battery management system. The modular architecture makes it easier to integrate batteries in series or parallel configurations for different fields such as electric and hybrid vehicles, urban transportation and smart-grid applications.

FORSEE POWER is actively involved in a number of energy storage scenarios, including the shipping industry. Gilles Ramzeyer, the company’s director of energy storage, says: "The maritime sector - large or small - and marine applications are becoming increasingly lucrative segments." The main interest here lies in battery-powered maneuvering in port and providing an on-board electricity supply when moored without constantly running the engines. FORSEE POWER is also active and very successful in other areas such as cycling, where the company is one of the leading European battery system integrators offering custom solutions for electric bicycles.

FORSEE POWER SAS
240 rue de la Motte – Bât B
77550 Moissy-Cramayel / Lieusaint
France
Tel.: +33 1 8551-3030
www.forseepower.fr

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Andreas Gronarz
Hall 27, Stand E33
Tel.: +49 89 4563-9060
E-mail: salescentraleurope@forseepower.com

Guitars that serenade planet Earth
What are all good guitars made of? No contest - exotic wood. However, these exceptional-sounding exotic woods are now protected species. So researchers from the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) are at HANNOVER MESSE 2016 to show how these stringed instruments could be built without plundering the rain forests.

Their idea is to use thermally modified timber (TMT) instead. The TMT process involves heating wood to at least 160° Celsius in the absence of oxygen, thereby modifying the material's technical properties. In their search for the optimum replacement guitar wood, the scientists are altering the characteristics of various European woods in an approximately 170°Celsius heat treatment process. These TMTs are then tested for sound quality using an impact hammer and accelerometer.

Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde (FH)
Schicklerstrasse 5
16225 Eberswalde
Germany
Tel. +49 333 465 70
www.hnee.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Ines Preuss
Hall 2, Stand B33, co-exhibitor with TU Berlin ScienceMarketing
E-mail: Ines.Preuss@hnee.de

Non-combustible molded parts
The gray shapes that RUCH NOVAPLAST is exhibiting at HANNOVER MESSE 2016 might not look very spectacular, but visitors shouldn’t simply turn a blind eye. After all, beauty is only skin deep - it's what's inside that matters. And this is a substance called SunForceTM.

SunForceTM is the world's first particle foam to achieve UL94 V-0 fire protection classification. When American Underwriters Laboratories (UL) tested SunForceTM in accordance with the UL94 standard for the flammability of plastics used for parts in equipment and applications, it found that SunForceTM is non-combustible and contains no critical additives, hazardous substances or fire retardants - but is nonetheless extremely temperature-resistant. This new particle foam could prove extremely useful for power electronics and in the aerospace industry.

RUCH NOVAPLAST GmbH + Co. KG
Appenweierer Strasse 54
77704 Oberkirch
Germany
Tel.: +49 7802 806-0
Fax: +49 7802 806-400
www.ruch.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Melanie Köbele
Hall 4, Stand F12, co-exhibitor with wvib
E-mail: presse@ruch.de

New process for hard metals
Hard metals such as tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum cannot be mechanically formed using punching, embossing or pressing techniques. Nor can they be machined by drilling, turning or milling, or even laser-eroded.

At HANNOVER MESSE 2016, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is exhibiting a new process that enables these three metals to be electrochemically processed instead. This involves taking a tungsten workpiece, for example, as the anode and using a conductive tool as a cathode to strip the material while they’re immersed in an electrolyte (a base solution of sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate or lithium nitrate).

A current is fed through the workpiece, electrolyte and tool, which enables parts of the hard metal workpiece to be stripped away. This new process is suitable for manufacturing heavy-duty tools, heat exchangers and injection nozzles made from hard metal.

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Kaiserstrasse 12
76131 Karlsruhe
Germany
Tel.: +49 721 608-0
Fax: +49 721 608-4290
www.kit-technology.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Katharina Daub
Hall 2, stand B16
E-mail: katharina.daub@kit.edu