“Today we’re doing this on the basis of both scientific and empirical findings. But in the future, given the increasing complexity of new types of ceramic materials, we hope to be able to do the same thing on a computer in the virtual world,” explains Rossner. Simulation tools will find the appropriate mixture ratios for different chemical components much faster than empirical processes ever could. This is still a vision, but Rossner is convinced that it will eventually be possible to “play” with virtual materials on a computer, simulate their behavior, and digitally forecast their properties such as hardness, reliability, and resistance to changes in temperature. Rossner’s team has therefore been working on developing and refining such methods for years.

Ceramic materials can be found in products as diverse as X-ray detectors, light-emitting diodes, and turbine blades. The special quality of these substances, which fascinate Rossner again and again, is the fact that they are the key components of so many products. For example, the ceramics in X-ray detectors very quickly and efficiently transform X-rays into light signals — and that’s crucial for medical computer tomography. The ceramic coatings in gas turbines, on the other hand, have a completely different function: their main job is to protect turbine blades from the extremely high temperatures of fuel gases. But ceramics can do even more. For example, they can provide insulation from strong electric voltages, change their shape when subjected to an electric charge (the piezo effect), or generate electricity directly as the result of a difference in temperature (the thermoelectric effect).

Rossner’s team uses such material characteristics to come up with other possible applications for this cross-sector technology. That requires a highly interdisciplinary team – and Rossner’s 30 colleagues are therefore experts from a wide range of disciplines such as materials science, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and electrical engineering. Rossner, who studied materials science, has been working at Siemens since 1984. He knows how long the road from an idea to a product can be. At Siemens, he developed ceramics for X-ray detectors in the late 1980s. By the mid 1990s he and his team had reached the point where they could transfer their findings to medical technology and move their product from the laboratory to the production line. This step took only two years. The product soon became a success on the market, and today ceramic is an essential component of the best X-ray detectors.

“For me as a researcher, that’s the exciting thing – initiating this value chain and supporting it as it develops,” says Rossner. In the process, he has overcome quite a few difficulties. “There are always skeptics,” he says. That’s why it’s important for researchers to believe in their own ideas and approaches so that they can convince decision-makers with facts and enthusiasm. At the same time, however, they also have to deal with technical obstacles. “If you haven’t got good and creative colleagues, you don’t have a chance,” says Rossner.

Furthermore, it’s essential for researchers to engage in a dialogue with application experts. Not every idea will become a technical and commercial success, but if you talk with potential users at an early stage in the process, you can find out what they regard as essential. Of course ideas also come via the company’s competitors. “We all keep a close eye on one another,” Rossner says with a grin. Through its inventions, Rossner’s team is creating unique selling points for Siemens. And in cases where the competition is caught unawares, Rossner is particularly pleased.