Awards
ITA bestowed with RWTH Innovation Award
The scientific staff, Dr Valentine Gesché, David Schmelzeisen and Kristina Simonis of ITA Institute for Textile Technology of RWTH Aachen University under the leadership of Prof Thomas Gries was bestowed with the RWTH Innovation Award for their project „4D textile – additive manufacturing of hybrid materials for temporarily shape shifting applications”.
In this project, microstructures were printed in textiles using a 3D printer. The composite system reacts to external influences with deformation. Thus, a deformation is created without external energy input, because the required power will be saved through preloading in the textile itself. A change of environment (for instance a rise of temperature or change of humidity) leads to a change of shape of the printed microstructure and thereby to a movement of the hybrid material 4D textile.
An international graduate college between the University of Wuppertal, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, the Massachusetts University Lowell, USA, and the RWTH Aachen University will be prepared right now to further push this research. At the moment the team is looking for new cooperation partners for further application fields of the new hybrid material.
The RWTH Innovation Award was awarded for the third time this year. Every year, three projects are awarded a prize which underlines the innovation power of the region of Aachen, Germany, in a special way. Professor Malte Brettel, Prorector for economy and industry of RWTH Aachen University, handed the certificates at the RWTHtransparent“ event at the lecture hall complex C.A.R.L. in Aachen, Germany. The second prize was awarded to Moritz Cramer, Philipp Goergens, Dr. Simon Koopmann and Fabian Potratz of the Institute for High Voltage Technology, the third prize to Dr Rebecca Engel and Dr Marcus Rose of the Institute for Technical and Macromolecular chemistry.