Metallic materials are currently responsible for 40% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. The extraction of the necessary minerals also leads to considerable quantities of harmful by-products. Against this background, the SPP 2489 focuses on combining digitalization and sustainability in order to create new, recyclable structural metals. These should not only impress with their lower use of elements - especially critical elements - but also have a high tolerance to contamination by secondary raw materials. 

“DaMic” aims to enable a more environmentally friendly design of metals through the use of data-supported methods. This includes the application of inverse design approaches based on digital links between process, structure and properties (PSP). A combination of experiments and simulations will help to identify suitable alloy compositions and process parameters. In the first funding period, the foundations for the prediction and reversal of PSP links will be created. The second funding period will focus on the development of automated workflows for the quantitative design of sustainable metallic structural materials. 

The program will focus in particular on steel and aluminium materials. Tandem projects in which experts from mechanics and materials science work closely together will be funded. These are intended to investigate and optimize the interactions between alloy composition, process parameters and microstructure. The projects will also contribute to the data-based analysis and presentation of experimental results. 

Interested researchers are invited to take part in a preparatory meeting on 2 October 2024 at Frankfurt Airport. This meeting will serve to network potential sub-projects and present project ideas. Registration for the meeting is open until 30 August 2024 and requires a one-page project summary. 

Project proposals can be submitted until 18 November 2024 via the electronic application processing system elan. Detailed information on proposal preparation and the program guidelines can be found on the DFG website. 

With “DaMic”, the DFG is creating a platform for researchers to address the challenges of sustainable metal processing and promote new scientific findings at the interface of digitalization and sustainability. The program relies on the active involvement of diverse research teams to develop innovative and practice-oriented solutions.