Building lighter cars and planes to save the climate.

To meet climate targets, we need to produce fewer emissions. One starting point is transportation: vehicles and aircraft need to emit as little CO₂ as possible. One way of achieving this is by making car bodies, fuel tanks, and components lighter. At Helmholtz center Hereon and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), we are therefore researching ultralight structural materials. In addition to the lightweight materials most widely used nowadays (high-strength steels and aluminum), other materials with high lightweight potential, such as magnesium, titanium, and fiber-reinforced plastics, need to be included in such research.

We consider each individual step in the process chain separately. This involves using artificial intelligence and data-driven models, conducting experiments, and building prototypes. We work to understand materials from the atomic level to the component level, all with the goal to figure out their ultimate use in climate and environmentally friendly cars and airplanes.

(Header: Hereon/Christian Schmid)