The world-renowned Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland is the country's largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences. Its research work focuses on future technologies, energy and climate, health innovation and the fundamentals of nature. Every year more than 2,500 scientists from all over the world use the PSI's large-scale research facilities and opportunities for their scientific work.
Planning for the Quantum Matter and Material Center (QMMC) began in 2021. Various functions and departments, that are currently spread across the institute campus, will find a shared home in the new building.
One of the rooms is the cryostat room. Experiments can be carried out at very low temperatures with the equipment set up there. The walls, the ceiling and the 1 m thick floor slab of the room were reinforced with FIBERNOX® V-ROD rebars. Straight and stirrup-shaped rebars with a diameter of up to 32 mm were used.
Thanks to their material properties the bars, made from glass fiber reinforced composite material, were the right choice for this project. As non-magnetic non-conductors, they do not influence the test results of the cryostats due to their materiality. Accordingly, accessories made of non-metallic material were also used. A total of 23 tons of FIBERNOX® V-ROD reinforcement material was used.
The QMMC has been under construction since 2024 and is scheduled for completion in 2025.
© PSI
