ESM is member of iBAT association

ESM is member of iBAT association

ESM has joined the iBAT association, a Swiss platform for industry and research partners for battery innovations. The association supports and accelerates new innovative ideas to their final products and offers network partners active contribution and participation in the discussions. iBAT facilitates interdisciplinary exchanges on battery related topics between key stakeholders and partners and gives ESM the opportunity to contribute to the creation of innovations. In the context of the Swiss Battery Days on February 15 to 17, 2021, iBAT organizes an afternoon dedicated to the Swiss Battery Industry where also members of the board of ESM will participate.

Material of the Month: Titanium

Material of the Month: Titanium

Titanium is a strong, grey metal which is highly corrosion resistant and has a high melting temperature. It has a very low density but high strength, it’s 45% lighter than steel with the same strength though. Compared to Aluminum, it’s 60% heavier, but twice as strong. Titanium is one of the earths most abundant materials, but mainly occurs in the form of minerals. The most common compound of titanium is used in paints and polymers, while its metal form is mainly used in aerospace, medical equipment and automotive industry. Due to its lightweight, titanium offers a better performance and lower fuel consumption in transport applications. Over half of the titanium is used […]

SusCritMOOC Online Evening Course series 2020

SusCritMOOC Online Evening Course series 2020

Evening course series on the sustainable management of critical raw materials On October 14, 15, and 16 SusCritMat held an online course series on critical raw materials. The participants gathered insights into three core topics each evening: Criticality, development of future supply and demand scenarios as well as circular product design. An additional keynote lecture on materials governance as well as business opportunities in the EIT RawMaterials Framework complemented the programme. Throughout the three evenings we had up to sixty people each night, mixed from academia and industry participating and engaging actively in the discussions.  

Material of the month: Indium

Material of the month: Indium

Indium is a very soft, ductile and malleable metal and its earth crust occurrence can be compared to the one of silver or mercury. It got its name from its indigo blue spectral line. Nowadays its main uses can be found as indium-tin oxide in flat panel devices. Other applications include alloys and solders, thin film solar panels, thermal interface materials, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. In transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) used in flat panels displays and in amorphous silicon and CdTe PV cells, indium can be replaced by other TCOs. There is no commercially available substitute for indium in semiconductors used in thin-film solar cells. Indium rarely […]

Material of the Month: Germanium

Material of the Month: Germanium

Germanium is a hard, brittle semimetal that first came into use a half-century ago as a semiconductor material in radar units and as the material from which the first transistor was made. Today, germanium is mainly used in electronics and solar applications, fiber-optic systems, infrared optics, polymerization catalysts, and other uses (such as chemotherapy, metallurgy, and phosphors). Germanium-containing infrared optics were primarily for military use, but the commercial applications for thermal-imaging devices that use germanium lenses have increased during the past few years. In the earth crust, germanium seldom appears in high concentrations. Due to its highly dispersive nature, it is mostly recovered as a byproduct of zinc smelting, although […]