CT-scans in combination with recent hardware and software developments establish new possibilities for the engineering of materials with the computer. Using CT-scans one can calculate material properties via geometrical analyses and numerical simulations. Furthermore, CT-scans can be the basis for the development of geometry models for a material. Using a realization of such a model one again can simulate the relevant material properties, what allows for the optimization of the geometry. In a next step one tries to produce the new material and a CT-scan can now help to proof if the optimal geometry was achieved.
This ansatz is applied to a multitude of projects at the Fraunhofer ITWM. The main applications are the design of filter media, the optimization of PEM fuel cells and the simulation of felts for the dewatering of paper. For these applications we calculate pore size distributions, one and two phase flows, the efficiency and life-time of filters, the electrical and thermal conductivity, and the effective elastic properties. To assure the reusability of the knowledge, which was obtained in many public and industrial projects, all the options for the computer aided engineering are included in the GeoDict software. This software is also usable for partners of the ITWM (see www.geodict.com).