Technical progress in the automobile industry is unbroken. But,
the sector has still some hard nuts to crack: "Lead-free
materials" is one of the challenges — hidden behind this
challenge is a EU environmental directive which, based on a
step-by-step plan, gradually bans all lead-containing materials
and components from automotive vehicles — such as piezoelectric
components. These elements are important for diesel engine
injectors, for example, which control the supply of fuel to the
combustion chamber. The problem: Up to now lead-zirconate-
titanate (PZT) is the material of choice when fast switchable
piezoelectric applications in cars are concerned. To find
alternatives without containing the heavy metal of lead is not
an easy task, however, because in raw condition all
alternatively used materials still do not have the desired
properties. A simulation approach which the researchers of
Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM have
developed gets the search going now: "We have to chemically and
phy