Research & Development

WACKER’s research and development activities pursue three goals:

• We contribute to our customers’ market success by searching for solutions that meet their needs.
• We optimize our methods and processes in order to lead in technology and be sustainably profitable.
• We concentrate on creating innovative products and applications for new markets and on serving highly promising fields, such as energy storage, renewable energy generation, electromobility, modern construction, and biotechnology.

At 3.3 percent, the R&D rate – research and development spending as a percentage of Group sales – was slightly higher than the previous year (3.1 percent).

In 2018, we filed 87 patent applications (2017: 88). Our portfolio contains about 3,900 active patents worldwide, as well as 1,700 patent applications currently pending. We license very little R&D know-how from third parties. In our research partnerships with universities, the results are usually made available to us free of charge or by transfer of rights of use.

Our capital spending included new R&D laboratories, pilot reactors and lab facilities. For example, we built a scale-up lab in Burghausen and expanded laboratory space at WACKER POLYMERS in Korea. We also invested in measuring and analytical equipment, both at German sites and international subsidiaries.

Investments in R&D Facilities

A large part of our R&D costs was for the development of new products and production processes. WACKER scientists are currently working on some 270 projects, 14 percent of which are key strategic projects. WACKER operates in highly promising fields, such as energy recovery and storage, electronics, automotive, construction, household products, medicine, health care, cosmetics, food and biotechnology.

Breakdown of R&D Expenditures in 2018

The aim of our New Solutions initiative is to develop technically and commercially superior solutions for new applications. Combining expertise from across the company, we apply it where needed. This work accounts for about 5 percent of our projects. In 2018, we started a building-insulation project under this initiative.

Some of our research projects are subsidized by government grants. During the reporting period, these subsidized projects were centered on ongoing development of lithium-ion batteries.

Research and Development at Two Levels

WACKER conducts R&D at two levels: centrally at our Corporate R&D department and locally at our business divisions. Corporate R&D coordinates activities on a company-wide basis and involves other departments, such as Corporate Engineering for process-development issues. There is a management process in place for organizing our R&D projects transparently across the Group. Further, we use Project System Innovation (PSI) software to steer the Group’s product and process innovations by systematically evaluating customer benefit, sales potential, profitability and technology position.

Strategic Collaboration with Customers and Research Institutes

Our business divisions conduct application-driven R&D. Their focus is on product and process innovations in silicone and polymer chemistry and biotechnology, as well as on new processes for producing polycrystalline silicon. We collaborate with customers, scientific institutions and universities to achieve successful research results more quickly and efficiently. In 2018, WACKER’s roughly 45 research projects saw us collaborating with 40 international research institutes on three continents. Our collaborative efforts cover topics that include electricity storage, process simulation and process development.

WACKER places great emphasis on fostering young scientific talent and maintaining close contact with universities. In 2018, we sponsored some 160 degree theses and internships with students at over 50 universities worldwide. Back in 2006, Wacker Chemie AG joined with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to establish the Institute of Silicon Chemistry, located on TUM’s Garching research campus near Munich, and has funded the institute ever since.

Research Work at WACKER

As the hub of WACKER’s R&D activities, Corporate R&D has the task of developing new products and processes efficiently. The department is also key to opening up new business fields that complement the Group’s core competencies. Our scientists and engineers conduct basic research, develop new products and processes and improve existing processes. Our lab assistants and technicians in R&D, Applications Technology and Plant Engineering not only work in our labs, pilot plants and production facilities, but also support application trials at customer sites.

WACKER had 728 research and development staff in 2018 (2017: 728), accounting for 5.0 percent of the Group workforce (2017: 5.3 percent). Of these, 575 were employed in Germany and 153 abroad.

R&D Organization

Alexander Wacker Innovation Award

The Alexander Wacker Innovation Award, a €10,000 prize bestowed annually since 2006, recognizes excellence in categories alternating between product innovation, process innovation and basic research. The 2018 award for product innovation was conferred on two chemists from the Burghausen site who developed binders enabling the production of especially high-performing adhesives and sealants, wood varnishes and coating materials. Fields of application include wood-flooring adhesives, joint mortars, crack-filling compounds, paints, tile adhesives and wear-resistant coatings for concrete floors. The binders are marketed under the GENIOSIL^® STP-E brand.

Selected Corporate R&D Research Topics

One focus of our basic research is the chemistry of low-valence silicon for medium-to-long-term use in industrial applications (such as catalysis). In this area, we are working very closely with the Institute of Silicon Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich. The goal of our research into lithium-ion batteries is to develop silicon-based high-capacitance anode materials in order to significantly increase the capacity and energy density of lithium-ion cells. Industrially fabricated test cells exhibit up to 30 percent higher capacity – depending on the cell format – than graphite-based reference cells. Relevant developmental products are currently being evaluated at leading cell manufacturers.

Another research focus is our work on ESETEC^® 2.0, a microbial production system for the class of biopharmaceuticals known as antibody fragments. Additionally, WACKER is developing a new generation of ESETEC^® strains to control protein production, folding and release more flexibly for new classes of pharmaceutical proteins. This new concept of ESETEC^® 3.0 strains will make it possible to induce the release of a protein at just the right time in a process.

Selected Divisional Research Projects

At WACKER SILICONES, researchers have developed updates to multilayer systems of our ultra-precision silicone films. Using novel silicone electrode materials, they created multilayered laminates that, as actuators, can transform electrical signals into mechanical movement, for example. Further, we have developed self-adhesive elastomers that bond effectively – even at low temperatures – to diverse substrates. These novel adhesives, which are based on our highly reactive silane-terminated polymers, exhibit excellent binding power in combination with silicone resins.

We are working on principles to accomplish the controlled release of active substances from silicone-containing network structures of the kind used in wound-care and medical technology, for example. Our spherical silicone resin particles provide a new platform for versatile applications in fields such as cosmetics. Composite materials, i.e. composites of silicone resins and natural fillers or high-strength fibers, remain a focus of our research. These materials can be used, for example, as artificial stone or as a structural component in the construction, energy and automotive industries.

At WACKER POLYMERS, one research priority is functional polymer binders for use in construction and other sectors. We are continually improving our VOC-free products. Renewable raw materials represent one focus. In the reporting period, we launched functionalized polymer dispersions, dispersible polymer powders and polymer resins that are used to manufacture enhanced dispersion paints, adhesives and cementitious building materials.

At WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS, research is geared to strengthening the division’s biotech expertise. We are working on production methods and technologies to manufacture high-quality bioactives for use in the food industry and as nutritional supplements. We are developing our ESETEC^® production platform to enable its use in the manufacture of pharmaceutical proteins that are not easily accessible. In cyclodextrins, we are working on applications for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and industrial sectors.

In the field of solar modules, huge technological progress is being made at every step of the solar value chain. Cell efficiency is also rising continually. The highest cell efficiencies are attainable only with the kind of hyperpure polycrystalline silicon that WACKER POLYSILICON produces. Reference studies such as the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) show efficiencies of almost 22 percent for monocrystalline solar cells produced with PERC (passivated emitter rear cell) technology. Efficiency is a measure of how much of the radiant energy absorbed by a solar cell is transformed into electricity. High-efficiency monocrystalline cells (such as heterojunction or interdigitated back contact solar cells) achieve efficiencies of 22 – 24 percent. High-performance segments like these require WACKER-quality polysilicon.