Research Area C


Longevity

The research focus "longevity" encompasses the long-term structural integrity and functionality of living organisms and technical systems. Plants are especially suitable biological models for technical applications because they have evolved various functional principles to control failure. Damage prevention includes the formation of gradient transitions and the ability to react structurally and mechanically to environmental stresses and thus to withstand higher loads. Damage management ranges from self-sealing and subsequent self-healing to the creation of fracture sites ensuring a controlled disintegration of materials systems. Moreover, failure tolerance of an entire system can be increased by the formation of redundant structures.



Coordinators Research Area C
Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe


Projects within Research Area C


Longterm Projects 2022 and 2023

Longterm Projects 2019 and 2020

Booster Projects 2023 - finished

  • Plant-inspired humidity-driven bending actuator
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Responsible Investigator: Prof. Dr. Claas Müller
    Principal Investigators: Dr. Olga Speck and Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck
  • 3D Printing of shape-morphing surfaces for mechanical metamaterial surfaces
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
    Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Viacheslav Slesarenko
  • Maskless microstructuring of livMatS surfaces
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe and Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
  • Intra- and extracellular self-assembly of filamentous protein polymers
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and D.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski
  • Programmable Hydrogel Hopper: Mechanical Confinement Harnessing Slow Deformation
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B and C.
    Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl and Prof. Dr. Bastian E. Rapp
  • Modelling Abscission of Plant Organs as Inspiration for the Separation of Artificial Materials Systems
    This project is a cooperation between research areas C and D.
    Principal investigator: Dr. Olga Speck
    Responsible Investigator: Prof. Dr. Patrick Dondl
  • Thin-walled structures for soft machines via a new soap-bubbleinspired manufacturing technique
    This project is a cooperation between research areas B, C and Demonstrators.
    Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl

Booster Projects 2021 - finished

Compact Projects 2021 - finished

  • Fatigue in energy-harvesting mechanical metamaterials
    This project is a cooperation among research areas A and C.
    Junior Research Group leader: Dr. Viacheslav Slesarenko

Compact Projects 2020 - finished