Innovation of the month

Under the brand name Clevios™, Heraeus produces conductive polymers that take the form of bluish dispersions; they form electrical functional coatings on flexible touch screens for smartphones and tablet PCs. These intuitive user interfaces are based on innovative organic electronics on thin films with conductive coatings which are printed onto thin, highly flexible films with conductive coatings. The coatings are no more than 100 up to 200 nanometers thick. With a combination of various conductive polymers and a newly developed etching technology it is possible to make these functional films on touch screens invisible to the human eye. Modern touch screen technology requires specific structuring of the surface into conductive and nonconductive areas. The Heraeus etching technology replaces mechanical structuring by deactivating the conductivity without removing the polymer. This results in conductive structures that are completely invisible to the eye.

Rotosil has been in its own class of quartz glass at Heraeus since 1934. The material is melted down electrically from quartz sand of various purity levels using a special arc process. Occlusions (ultrafine gas bubbles) created during production make the material opaque white due to light scattering. Rotosil is resistant to high temperatures and nearly all acids. This makes the material perfect for a wide range of applications from the chemical industry to semiconductor technology. Components made from Rotosil are in demand everywhere that high temperatures and aggressive media come together. Fields of application include recycling processes, melting and coating processes (such as process chambers in thin film solar technology), and oven linings. The micropores in Rotosil's structure make it an excellent thermal isolator.

The SOPIRA® Citoject syringe from Heraeus has made administering anesthesia more reliable for dentists and visiting the dentist less stressful for patients for 30 years. In combination with the compatible SOPIRA® Carpule needles, they offer dentists an innovative treatment option. The secret lies in the short taper. The fine needles minimize injection pain and allow precise blocking of pain sensation. As a result, the patient never even develops the common fear of injection. The appearance of the syringe also plays an important role in this: The fact that the Citoject syringe looks like a fountain pen helps to relieve the patient's "needle phobia."

With the recent trend towards using wires made from materials other than gold, Heraeus announces the introduction of AgLite. It is a silver alloy wire that contains silver as the main component and other important elements. With this introduction Heraeus expands its portfolio of non-gold bonding wires that include a wide range of bare copper products and palladium containing copper products in addition to the recent addition of a family of silver based products. This silver alloy wire is designed to work for both IC packages and LED devices. This alternative now provides customers an additional degree of freedom to choose and select the most appropriate technology for wire materials other than gold.

Wire rope hoists on cranes must not freeze up in cold damp weather. Infrared emitters can protect rope hoists as well as tracks, filters and locks from icing up quickly, effectively and energy-efficiently, as the heat is transferred without contact in an easily controllable manner. This prevents the possibility of any short circuit in the system, for example by dampness penetrating a switch box. Infrared emitters from Heraeus Noblelight are made from hard-wearing and shock-resistant quartz glass, so that they are well suited for outdoor applications. The electrical connectors for such emitters are fed into the connection box via a special seal. This system underwent many days of testing by the VDE in Offenbach in June and July and proved itself totally sealed to dust and spray, conforming with and satisfying VDE 0710 DIN40050, relating to IP65.

With the development of a new production process Heraeus can now produce platinum oxalate - a precious metal compound used as a precursor for process catalysts by the chemical industry - on a large scale for the first time. An international Heraeus development team scaled up the synthesis from the laboratory to commercial production. Platinum oxalate is thermally unstable and can decompose explosively when improperly exposed to heat. An innovative reaction method plays a key role in process safety for the production of this chemical. The process was modified by the developers so that the dark blue platinum oxalate synthesis can be conducted significantly below the compound's decomposition temperature, thereby solving the problem of unregulated decomposition. Heraeus is currently the only supplier of platinum oxalate, giving it a unique position in the market. The product was awarded as best Heraeus product innovation 2012.

Heraeus has registered a trademark for its Celcion® Thick Film material system. The thick film material system was developed to affix circuits directly to aluminium substrates. With the innovative material system, LEDs are mounted more economically than on conventional MCPCBs (metal-core printed circuit boards). Due to the good heat conductivity, Celcion®-based LEDs have either a longer service life or a higher light output. In contrast to MCPCBs, the Celcion® system is a selective assembly process in which paste is applied only to the places where it is needed. This means fewer processing steps and reduced material consumption. Moreover, as thinner layers can be used, the overall cost is lower. As Celcion® circuits are about 5 to 10 °C cooler in operation they have a longer service light at identical light intensities. Conversely, this means that at the same temperature, designers can increase the light output by 20 % with the same space coverage (or identical circuit size). This, in turn, lowers production costs.

The general tightening of emission limits has steadily focused attention on more and more combustion engines. It is now impossible to imagine lawn mowers, motor saws, garden blowers, etc. without HeraPur® catalysts. They ensure that working in the garden is a pleasure. Thanks to the experience going back over several years, Heraeus as a market leader is in the position of being able to manufacture highly efficient catalytic coatings. With innovative support concepts, the Heraeus experts are flexible in their approach to specific customer requirements. HeraPur® coatings combine several advantageous properties. For one thing, special additives make Palladium-rich coatings possible which perform to the required standard but at lower costs compared with Platinum/Rhodium coatings. At the same time only the smallest quantities of precious metals are necessary, which reduces costs considerably.

Heraeus PALACOS® bone cement has set the standard for over 50 years for anchoring prosthetic hip joints firmly to the bone. With PALACOS® R+G pro bone cement, the Heraeus Medical business group is bringing the proven and tested bone cement for arthroplasty to the market in a new ready-to-mix package. The individual cement components of PALACOS® R+G pro are prefilled ready-to-mix, which saves valuable time in the mixing process. Approximately 15 steps are usually required when preparing for the process with a vacuum mixing system. PALACOS® R+G pro reduces this number significantly and makes handling easier. The ready-to-mix components enable a consistently identical mixing ratio and therefore optimal bone cement quality. The ready-to-mix package makes it possible to handle the bone cement components without direct contact.

Modern windmills, also known as wind turbines, generate power from wind energy. In order to convert wind to electricity as efficiently as possible, the wind direction and force are monitored, and the rotor blades are adjusted to be optimally positioned. A slip ring assembly supplies power to the motor for the rotor blades and transmits the measurement signals. Precision precious-metals contact systems

manufactured by Heraeus ensure a smooth signal transmission in these slip ring transmitters, even under harsh environmental conditions, whether on the high seas or barren desert, and help provide us with environmentally friendly energy. These switching contacts are made of wires or stamped springs comprised of abrasion-resistant gold or palladium alloys, often using roll clad, galvanized and welded bonding materials. Typical forms include cylindrical slip ring assemblies and flat transmitter systems with circuit boards.

An infrared heating system from Heraeus Noblelight is helping to ensure the high quality of composite aerospace structures manufactured by GKN Aerospace in Great Britain. Each of the three rear wing spars of the Airbus A350 XWB is manufactured by laying up carbon composite tape on a mandrel and then curing the assembly. However, such complex lay down operations can sometimes produce wrinkling of the final surface because of voids and excess resin between plies. One proven answer to this problem is de-bulking, which involves enclosing the composite structure in a vacuum bag at various stages in its manufacture and then compacting under moderate heat and vacuum to insure seating on the mandrel, to prevent wrinkles, and to promote adhesion. The system was custom-designed and developed in close co-operation with GKN Aerospace engineers following initial tests at Heraeus’ Application Centre in Neston.

Teeth are an essential part of anyone’s appearance. In dental restoration, emulating the natural aesthetics of a tooth makes all the difference. Each individual restoration is a bio-compatible replacement that imitates nature in both color and shape; it must meet the highest aesthetic and functional requirements. The combination of a quadrillions particles of various sizes improves aesthetics, durability, and workability. Heraeus’ Venus brand dental filling material is a light-curing universal composite that is ideal for the simple, fast, and reliable production of highly aesthetic restorations of front and side teeth. The color range includes up to 27 shades. Fillings with Venus composites, such as Venus Diamond and Venus Pearl, match the surrounding tooth enamel perfectly thanks to their special composition.

At Heraeus, gold plays a special role in many ways. With the support of our four trading units in Hanau, Hong Kong, New York and Shanghai, Heraeus helps clients professionally manage risk with regard to the physical acquisition of gold, price fluctuations and financing. The company also offers products for private investors, who can purchase Heraeus gold bars at commercial and savings banks and from precious metal dealers. The bars have featured a new design since the beginning of the year. Inspired by many suggestions, Heraeus has improved various features including the lettering and the text encircling the "hand with roses" logo. All gold bars continue to be furnished with a certificate. This design will be applied to all gold bars worldwide, bringing an end to production of the former design. What is unchanged, however, is the purity of Heraeus gold bars. It remains at 999,99/1000th of gold in each bar.

Whether in microchip manufacturing, data transmission over the internet via optical fiber, precision optics, or laser technology—when it comes to demanding optical applications, quartz glass is indispensable. Heraeus is one of the pioneers in the production and application of this material. Generations of Heraeus researchers have made great contributions to our understanding of this exceptional material. Although extremely difficult to differentiate from normal glass, quartz glass possesses other significant properties such as chemical and temperature stability, resistance to radiation and optical transparency. Synthetic quartz glass is considered one of the purest materials. It contains trace elements in very small concentrations, often only in the ppb range (parts per billion). Quartz glass is so pure that you could see through a 100 m thick slab of it as if it were a piece of thin window glass.

Aluminum is favored the world over as a light metal by the automotive, aircraft, and packaging industries. Precise temperature control is essential to its manufacture. Heraeus has come up with a true innovation in measurement technology. Instead of utilizing industry-standard thermocouples and pyrometers, the sensor experts from Houthalen, Belgium, offer temperature measurement with optical fibers. FiberLance™ was developed to directly and precisely measure bath temperatures in industrial furnaces for primary aluminum manufacturing. The measurement system uses new technology: an optical fiber connected to a light-detecting sensor. Companies can perform up to 10,000 bath temperature measurements without recalibrating the device.

Read more about sensors for molten metals at: www.heraeus-electro-nite.com

Deuterium lamps provide a complete light spectrum from ultraviolet through the visible range, making them the ideal light source for high-precision absorption measurements in laboratory analysis for applications such as blood testing, including doping and drug testing. To achieve the lowest detection

limits and highest resolution in cutting-edge analysis equipment, Heraeus has introduced the newest generation of deuterium lamps, D2plus, offering around 30 percent higher performance with two to three times lower noise levels. As such, they are ideal for use in ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) detectors.

Read more about specialty light sources for analytical and optical applications at:

Silver, in the form of conductive pastes, plays an important role in the electronics and photovoltaic industries. This includes silver-based pastes for manufacturing very delicate, high-conductivity contact paths on solar cells. These constitute the tracks on the solar cells. Heraeus is constantly developing new formulas in order to offer customers innovative technology solutions. The requirements for new generations of paste include high efficiency, low consumption, and reduced silver content. The electroplating pastes introduced in 2011 for front-side contact, SOL9410/9411, make it possible to produce highly efficient crystalline solar cells and are optimized for production with high throughput and low cost. The new SOL200 series of pastes is designed for the back-side contacts of crystalline solar cells and features a low silver content. Technological advances take center stage in the Photovoltaics business unit, whose product line focuses on innovative pastes for new cell designs.