Completed funded project

Heating dishes by induction makes it possible to keep food warm directly on the plate or other serving vessel in an energy-saving and hygienic way or to heat it up specifically before consumption. This option is increasingly being used in the restaurant and catering sector and in larger facilities such as hospitals or nursing homes. The induction tableware currently available on the market uses only metallic layers for coupling to the electromagnetic field, which must be subsequently applied to the non-conductive porcelain or other ceramic tableware. The very different expansion coefficients of metal and porcelain limit the
so far the applicability of induction cookware.

The aim of this project was to develop ceramic products that can be heated by electromagnetic induction without the use of metallic components. Instead of the silver layers used to date, which require an additional work step (decorating with a metal layer and decorative firing), purely ceramic materials were to be developed for the inductive heating effect. An important sub-goal was also to better adapt the thermal expansion coefficients of the heating layer and product (e.g. plate). Overall, the purely ceramic materials should not only make induction-heated products more cost-effective (due to cheaper raw materials and higher energy efficiency during production), but also significantly more flexible in terms of functionality and design.