Every year, the Leibniz Association evaluates innovative research projects by up-and-coming young scientists. Funding approval for a Leibniz Junior Research Group enables talented scientists to further establish themselves in their field of research, implement a research project with their own team, and gain valuable experience in research coordination and personnel management. In addition to financial support, the group leaders also benefit from networking and training opportunities offered by the Leibniz Association. In this year's selection process, Dr.-Ing. Nicole Mensching from Leibniz-IWT was awarded funding, as was officially announced at the Leibniz Association's annual conference in Berlin. 

The research project that she and her team will be pursuing in the coming years is dedicated to additive manufacturing - a process that enables the production of components with complex structures, such as those required in medical technology. However, setting the desired properties of these products is still very resource-intensive and is done using iterative methods. 

Dr.-Ing. Nicole Mensching relies on a descriptor-based approach for this purpose, the core of which is the "It-Piece" she introduced; an acronym for "Inventing Resilient and Tailored Production of Additively Manufactured Parts Enabled by Descriptor-Based Characterization." It combines a variety of different material states in a single, graded sample, enabling them to be characterized quickly and systematically. In this way, descriptors can be efficiently determined and then used to specifically adjust the material properties. 

In the future, this can help to determine the required properties early on in the production process, minimizing waste, saving costs for high-quality powders, and simplifying production for users. The aspect of sustainability was particularly convincing for this technologically important topic, as the project has the potential to make additive manufacturing processes substantially more resource-efficient. 

Further information can be found in the press release.