COMPETENCE IN POLYMERS

As an independent, non-university research institution and working as a non-profit organisation, FILK is distinguished by its particularly close relation to the industry and application focus. The versatile research work at the institute feeds a comprehensive knowledge base, which is continuously broadening and developing. It forms the basis for solutions and developments for applications in diverse industries. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises are thus supported effectively in solving their daily challenges and in strengthening their innovation capacities.

Both of the material groups, leather and plastic sheeting, still play an important role at the institute; however, they no longer represent the complete range of research taking place at FILK.  From the historically grown material combination, a unique materials expertise for flexible synthetic and natural polymer materials in different applications and branches of industry has been developed. These include materials such as leather, collagen products, coated textiles, flexible laminar compound materials, and material composites. In addition to applied material research and methodical material and technology development, the services of material testing and analytics in the accredited test laboratory, consultancy and expertise as well as vocational training and qualification are further pillars of the institute's business activities. To perform these comprehensive tasks the institute has an excellent research infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities of analysing and testing systems. The multidisciplinary team of researchers and technical staff enable for completion of complex and transdisciplinary tasks.