Servohydraulic high-speed testing machine for dynamic tests on materials and components

• Subject Area: Mechanics
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 497337053

Applied materials research is a supporting pillar of the research profile of the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen due to its interdisciplinary cross-sectional function. The working groups of the two applicants deal with the development of new test methods as well as with the material characterization and modeling for digital product development using computer simulation. One focus is on the investigation of materials and components under very high loading speeds. Such loads occur, for example, in vehicle components under crash loads, in drop tests on cell phones, in machine tools, and in many other specialist areas. The interdisciplinary orientation of the two working groups builds on this and includes research into the behavior of materials under high-speed loads, for example in the fields of railways, automobiles and shipbuilding as well as dentistry and construction.These publicly funded research activities are to be further expanded through the project-specific acquisition of a high-speed testing machine, thereby increasing the national and international visibility of the research profile of the working groups. Since the beginning of the energy transition, sustainable, natural materials and new storage media such as solid-state batteries for electromobility and weight-saving connection technologies have increasingly come into focus. However, the highly dynamic behavior has hardly been researched and there is an enormous need for corresponding scientific studies with regard to its practical implementation. The testing infrastructure currently comprises two servo-hydraulic testing machines for tests in the medium speed range and a drop tower for energy-based impact tests.The new high-speed testing machine should enable tensile, compression and bending tests at constant speeds of up to 20 m/s and enable iterative optimization of the open control loop. In addition, it should be possible to test larger samples and, in particular, component demonstrators in order to validate simulation results. The main research focus is on the mechanical properties and fracture behavior of plastics. Since these material properties are strongly dependent on temperature, the machine should be equipped with a temperature chamber. As part of the project, high-speed measurement technology specially tailored for component tests is also to be acquired.

• DFG Programme: Major Instrumentation Initiatives
• Major Instrumentation: Servo-hydraulische Hochgeschwindigkeitsprüfmaschine
• Instrumentation Group: 2910 Dynamische Prüfmaschinen und -anlagen, Pulser
• Applicant Institution: Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen
• Leader: Professor Dr.-Ing. Stephan Marzi
• Participating Person: Professor Dr.-Ing. Stefan Kolling