Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden are working with partners from research and industry to create a virtual materials expert system. This system will have the latest findings from scientific papers on materials and the requirements from relevant standards as well as the practical knowledge of experts.
The artificial assistant will make this accumulated expertise available to its human colleagues during materials testing, taking work in materials and metallography laboratories to a whole new level.
The project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the EU, aims to bring about "digital change in materials testing". The Fraunhofer IWS, which is leading the project, is coordinating the collaboration with six other partners from scientific institutions and medium-sized companies. Together, the participants initially want to develop an electronic laboratory book, a knowledge database and a digital laboratory management system. These components will ultimately be used to create a virtual expert that will open up completely new possibilities for modern materials testing
