12.10.2026

New ERDF instrument at the MVU Department

Two people at a table with a measuring device – a HotDisk TPS 2500 S – and two screens. One person, a man, is standing with a small object in his hand. The other person, a woman, is sitting and working on the device. — PhD student Lisa Marie Rickerts, M.Eng., alongside mechanical engineering student Philipp Kamlah whilst working on the HotDisk.

A hand holds a white round dish containing a small brown sample in front of a laptop with an illuminated keyboard; beneath it is a sticker bearing the text ‘Co-funded by the European Union’ — In the specimen shown here, a piece of bone is embedded in PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate = thermoplastic). Grooves have been milled into this bone. The experiments are simulated in order to verify the experimental results. For the simulation, the heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the bone are measured on the HotDisk prior to milling.

The newly acquired HotDisk TPS 2500 S measurement system significantly expands the metrological capabilities for determining thermal material properties.

The instrument system enables fast, precise and calibration-free measurements of thermal conductivity and other thermal material parameters. These parameters can be determined for solids, powders, liquids, thin films and anisotropic materials. This includes, for example, natural bone tissue or bone substitute materials, which are currently the subject of investigations as part of a collaborative PhD project on the machining of customised bone implants.

The instrument is used in regional and interdisciplinary research and development projects within the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Process and Environmental Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering.

The purchase was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).