Testing cleanroom-suitable materials at the Fraunhofer IPA

The testing of materials for their suitability for use in cleanroom environments has been successfully established at the Fraunhofer IPA. In order to meet the market demand for suitable materials at acceptable prices for use in cleanrooms, the Fraunhofer IPA has been carrying out material tests. 

Normally, material tests are performed using tribology where the wear of material pairings is considered. The Fraunhofer IPA does things differently. In order or meet increasing demands from equipment and component manufacturers –especially in the field of cleanroom technology – for suitable and reasonably-priced materials, in recent years test devices have been developed and realized which enable the emission of minute particles in the micrometer range to be determined rather than the wear of material pairings. In combination with modern surface-coating processes, it has now become possible to realize production materials fulfilling the highest requirements of cleanliness and profitability. The assessment of particulate emission behavior under varied stress parameters is completed by testing outgassing, ion extraction and/or plasma resistance behavior.

The material tests carried out at the Fraunhofer IPA are valid for all fields of clean manufacturing such as pharmaceutics, precision engineering and the semiconductor industry taking into consideration the corresponding cleanliness and profitability requirements.