• Projektnummer: F 2565
• Projektdurchführung: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
• Status: Laufendes Projekt
• Geplantes Ende: 2026-05-31

Projektbeschreibung:

High-performance materials such as graphene or carbon nanotubes are seen as key enablers for many future technologies, for example in electronics, vehicle construction or medical products. However, their increasing use also raises new questions in practice: What happens when such materials are released from products? How do they enter the environment or the human body, for example via the air in the workplace? And how can health risks be reliably assessed?

This is where the EU research project MACRAMÉ comes in, in which the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA) is involved. The aim of the project is to develop and standardise reliable and applicable test methods for innovative materials. These form an important basis for a profound risk assessment. The further development of these test methods also serves their long-term inclusion in international accepted OECD Test Guidelines.

BAuA is taking on various tasks as part of the project. On the one hand, BAuA is contributing to the development of aerosol generation standards that can be used to simulate how particulate materials are released via the air. Aerosols are used in specific tests to expose cells under realistic conditions.

On the other hand, BAuA contributes to the further development of high-resolution imaging methods. By combining Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and automated image evaluation, innovative carbon-based materials can be characterised and quantified both in powder form and in products (e.g. embedded in composites) as well as in test systems (e.g. cells).

In addition, BAuA is leading a work package within the project that supports the standardisation and harmonisation of the test methods developed in MACRAMÉ. To this end, BAuA is collaborating with international partners to develop strategies for the transfer of these test methods into standards and OECD Test Guidelines.

In addition, webinars and online workshops on the topic of "Standardisation and harmonisation of test methods" are held in the MACRAMÉ project in order to discuss necessary and ongoing standardisation and harmonisation projects for innovative materials and nanomaterials with various relevant stakeholders. At the same time, BAuA is supporting the preparation of a background analysis that describes the regulatory maturity of test methods for analysing risks along the life cycle. This serves to determine the need for the implementation of relevant legal and political framework conditions. On this basis, recommendations will be drawn up on how the procedures can be further developed and transferred to the market and into legislation - in consultation with relevant stakeholders from science, industry and the authorities.