About Us

Fraunhofer Center HTL currently has around 90 employees at its three locations in Bayreuth, Würzburg, and Münchberg. For our customers, we offer over 4,700 m² of laboratory and technical space with state-of-the-art equipment.

At the Bayreuth location, the HTL received a new research building in 2015, consisting of a three-story office building with an attached technical facility. The technical facility covers an area of approximately 2,000 m² and includes 15 laboratories and halls ranging in size from 30 to 200 m², with varying heights between 4 and 7 m. All rooms are equipped with high-quality laboratory equipment, including a central compressed air and gas supply.

In 2019, a fiber pilot plant was completed directly adjacent to the main building of the HTL in Bayreuth. The plant is used to scale up the ceramic reinforcing fibers developed at the Würzburg site to an annual capacity of several tons. The technical facility of the HTL was expanded by approximately 1,200 m² with the addition of this new building.

The Bayreuth location has a variety of highly specialized technical equipment, including:

• 13 ThermoOptical Measurement Systems (TOM), developed by the HTL, for testing high-temperature materials and optimizing their manufacturing processes
• 39 ovens for different atmospheres and volumes
• numerous facilities for the production and processing of Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs)
• 2 state-of-the-art 3D printers for additive manufacturing of ceramics and metals
• a non-destructive material testing laboratory with a computed tomography scanner, terahertz wave technology, ultrasound diagnostics, and thermography equipment
• a five-axis machining center and a laser system for mechanical and thermal processing of metals and ceramics

At the Bayreuth location, there are 80 office workstations available on an area of 600 m². In addition, there is a separate meeting area with flexibly divisible conference rooms. The area is set up for a maximum of 150 participants and a maximum of four separate meeting rooms.

At the Würzburg location, the HTL uses facilities of its parent institute Fraunhofer ISC. Located on the institute's area at Neunerplatz 2, it has three laboratories and a technical center with a total area of 500 m². The installed equipment is primarily used for the development of ceramic fibers, coatings, and fiber testing. In order to set up spinning towers, the technical center has a ceiling height of 8.5 m. The infrastructure allows for the processing of spinning masses and green fibers under high-purity gas conditions. The spinning processes are designed for a capacity of up to approximately 1 kg of fibers per month.

There are various spinning machines available for air or inert atmosphere, as well as for laboratory and pilot plant scale:

• a laboratory spinning machine for up to 100 filaments (dry spinning process, inert conditions)
• a laboratory spinning machine for up to 150 filaments (dry spinning process and 2-component spinning process, air)
• a pilot plant spinning machine for up to 1,000 filaments (dry spinning process, inert conditions)
• a pilot plant spinning machine for up to 1,000 filaments (melt or dry spinning process, air or inert conditions)

The HTL occupies 20 office workstations with a total area of 130 m² at the Würzburg location. In addition, the HTL uses the infrastructure of the parent institute, such as workshops, meeting rooms, etc.

At the Münchberg location, the HTL has created an interface for the textile processing of inorganic, especially ceramic materials with its Application Center for Textile Fiber Ceramics (TFK). Through cooperation with the Hof University of Applied Sciences, optimal conditions for the development, production and testing of textile components are provided on the campus of the Institute of Materials Science in Münchberg. This includes a weaving, braiding, nonwoven and knitting technical center as well as laboratories for chemical finishing and testing on an area of over 5500 m².

In 2020, a Textile Competence Center was inaugurated in Münchberg. The approximately 1,000 m² technical hall is equipped with state-of-the-art textile machinery, including machinery for the production of 3D fabrics, which is also used by TFK employees. In addition, in cooperation with the State Agency for the Testing of Textiles located on site, the testing procedures at the HTL are complemented by numerous facilities for testing fibers, rovings and textiles.