Fraunhofer IFAM secures €2 million-plus for motor research

By Marcus Bennett

Fraunhofer IFAM will receive more than €2 million for the SIREN project by the end of 2028, funded by the Free State of Saxony and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The money supports development of research infrastructure; it does not announce series production for a named vehicle program.

SIREN stands for Sovereign and Versatile Infrastructure for Resource-Independent Electric Drives of the Next Generation. Fraunhofer IFAM will use the funding to establish a continuous, sintering-based additive process chain for electric drives. Sintering compacts metal powder into a solid component. Here, that process forms part of additive manufacturing (building parts layer by layer).

The institute plans to combine different metallic materials and enable component geometries that conventional manufacturing methods make difficult or impossible. Fraunhofer IFAM said the infrastructure should cover “the entire development chain,” from material development through complex-component production to functional demonstrators (working prototypes that test the process chain).

Fraunhofer IFAM also said the planned combination of processes is “unique in Europe in this form.” That is an institutional claim, not an independently verified production benchmark. The announcement gives no throughput, line speed or cost data, so suppliers should treat the project as a development program rather than a contract award.

What changes for motor suppliers?

For motor developers, the work splits into two material changes. The first centers on multimaterial laminations (layered combinations of soft-magnetic and non-magnetic materials). Fraunhofer IFAM plans to develop high-speed reluctance motors, which generate torque through magnetic reluctance rather than permanent magnets, and ferrite-excited permanent magnet drives (permanent-magnet concepts designed to run without rare earth elements).

The aim addresses Europe’s dependence on critical raw materials. Rare earth supply, including neodymium, is heavily concentrated around a small group of supplier countries, while electrification is increasing copper’s strategic importance for mobility and industry. SIREN approaches that exposure at the motor-design stage, seeking drives that operate entirely without rare earth elements.

The separate NEO-CYCLE EU project takes a recycling route. Fraunhofer IKTS and TU Bergakademie Freiberg are developing a process to recover rare earth elements such as neodymium from decommissioned magnets. SIREN complements that work by changing the motor itself; NEO-CYCLE instead recovers material from existing motors.

The second material change concerns electrical windings. Fraunhofer IFAM is investigating aluminium as a copper replacement and intends to integrate special cooling channels into the windings. Those channels should improve aluminium’s properties enough to support high-performance electric drives, although the announcement provides no winding density, efficiency or cost results.

For suppliers, the funding creates a route to test these material changes with Fraunhofer IFAM. The institute plans joint development projects with drive-technology companies, suppliers and sintering-technology companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saxony should also gain access to the new manufacturing processes. That access supports process development, but it does not establish market demand or series-production commitments.

Fraunhofer IFAM says it will target applications with high demands for power density (power output relative to size or weight) and installation space. Those applications include electric road vehicles, aerial vehicles, underwater vehicles and other industrial uses. The release does not attach power ratings, prototype schedules or customer vehicle programs to those targets.

Watch next for the first functional demonstrators, named industrial partners and the pace of infrastructure development, with funding delivery due by the end of 2028. Measured output, manufacturing costs and vehicle-program commitments will determine whether the process chain moves beyond research into production-ready supply.