The Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL) is the leading Austrian “Center of Excellence” for cooperative research in the area of polymer engineering and sciences. In close cooperation with its scientific partners at four universities 100 highly qualified employees are active in a wide field of applications for plastics ranging from automotive and aircraft, to packaging, solar and photovoltaic industries.

By linking scientific knowledge to the industrial need for innovation PCCL contributes to the competitiveness of its industrial partners (e.g., AT&S, Andritz, ContiTech, DOW, FACC, MAGNA, Semperit or Isovoltaic), who cooperate on the basis of medium- and long-term R&D-projects with the PCCL.

An important aspect of all research activities of the PCCL is the strong orientation on the performance and functionality of polymer products in service. The scientific approach centers on the establishment of “material-structure/processing/performance relationships”, based on systematic experimental investigations and advanced simulation and modeling tools. As to the methodologies, all levels of the final product process chain are covered:

• From the synthesis and molecular structure of polymers and additives,
• via the processing technology and parameters,
• to the resulting material structure on various size scales,
• to component performance and product functionality.