24^th Colloquium: Joint research on adhesive bonding technology

27 - 28 Februar 2024 in Cologne, Germany

Around 180 participants from research and practice attended the event at the Maternushaus in Cologne. The conference program covered the current topics: adhesives, simulation, manufacturing, quality assurance and surfaces, steel and timber construction as well as energy transition. Adhesives manufacturers were also given the opportunity to talk about their products in a block of lectures.

The colloquium was again accompanied by an exhibition where adhesives manufacturers, suppliers of laboratory and analytical equipment as well as research institutions presented their products, processes and services as well as research results.

In his welcoming address, Dr. Ole Janssen from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) emphasized that the BMWK is currently funding around 1600 projects of the Industrial Collective Research (IGF). 52 % of the projects in 2023 were related to climate protection.

After retendering, the DLR Projektträger was commissioned by the Federal Ministry (BMWK) to implement the IGF program from January 2024. After almost 70 years of responsibility, the DLR-PT is now replacing the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF e. V.) as the authorized project management agency. Dr. Janssen underlined that the Ministry would continue and further develop the program. Afterwards, Mr. Klaus Uckel, Managing Director of the DLR-PT in Bonn, welcomed the guests.

Ms. Elisabeth Stammen (ifs, TU Braunschweig) presented the IGF project “Bio-based Fuel Cells”. This overall project is funded by the Federal Ministry (BMWK) via the DLR-PT as part of the project call “Leading technologies for the energy transition”. Researchers from various disciplines are working together on an alternative to the established fuel cells. In four individual projects, both bio-based adhesives and special timber are to be developed as end plates for fuel cells. Scientists from the Fraunhofer WKI in Braunschweig are working on the “wooden” part of the project.

Dr. Venla Hemmilä (IKEA, Sweden) described in one of the presentations from industry “IKEA’s road towards more sustainable adhesives”. This approach is being pursued step by step and, in addition to the use of bio-based adhesives, also includes optimizing the bonding process, reducing the weight of materials and new material compositions for furniture construction.

The timber session of the event started with a presentation on fire-protection aspects of glued joints of wood-based panels. Mr. Wolfgang Schäfer, Managing Director (Technology) of the Verband des Zimmerer- und Holzbaugewerbes Baden-Wuerttemberg (Association of the carpentry and timber construction industry) and the Deutscher Holzfertigbau-Verband e. V. (German association of prefabricated timber construction) in Ostfildern near Stuttgart, highlighted the practical relevance of this topic. The results of IGF projects were presented in two further speeches: Mr. Peter Haase from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Steel and Lightweight Structures in Karlsruhe presented “Wood-steel hybrid structures using the example of flexurally stressed load-bearing elements”. Dr. Cordula Grunwald from the Fraunhofer IFAM in Bremen reported on the status of research in the project “Tacitus FAQs”, which focusses on the economic application of hardwood constructions with glued-in rods.

Information on adhesives based on renewable raw materials was provided by Dr. Steven Eschig, new Head of the Binders and Coatings department at the Fraunhofer WKI in Braunschweig. He presented the development of mycelium-based binders for formaldehyde-free wood-based materials.

The organizer of the colloquium is the Gemeinschaftsausschuss Klebtechnik (Joint committee on adhesive technology, GAK). The GAK was established in 2005 for the cross-industry evaluation of ideas for research projects. The industry members of the GAK provide cross-industry advice on research applications, in particular within the framework of industrial joint research (IGF). Members of the GAK include the DECHEMA Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology as well as the research associations Welding and Allied Processes of the DVS, Steel Applications (FOSTA) and the International Association for Technical Issues related to Wood - iVTH. The GAK’s tasks furthermore include the practical transfer of research results from IGF projects in the field of adhesives. This takes place, amongst other events, at the annual colloquium on adhesive bonding technology.