Ultrasonic Machining Center

• Subject Area: Mechanics and Constructive Mechanical Engineering
• Term: Funded in 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 551561753

Lightweight construction also means fully exploiting the material and mechanical design and load limits of the developed components. Even the smallest irregularities in the structure or defects can have a significant influence on the subsequent component quality and dramatically affect the service life. This is particularly important in the field of multi-material or hybrid lightweight construction, as a large number of different material combinations with correspondingly complex, load-transferring boundary phases are used here. The flawless mechanical processing of the boundary and transition areas as well as the limiting contours as potential sources of damage is therefore of particular importance. The Institute for Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems (ILH) is working on two different hybrid approaches and concentrates its research in the domains of fiber-reinforced plastic-metal structures and multi-material additive manufacturing. Within the different process chains for the production of these systems (e.g. intrinsically produced components with a metallic basic structure and local reinforcement by fiber-reinforced plastic systems), there are a large number of open questions that influence the subsequent component quality. The Major Research Instrumentation applied for here is located within the process chains in the area of intermediate and final machining. It will be used to gain fundamental insights into both the optimal machinability of hybrids and the influence of the machining process itself on the properties of the lightweight components (e.g. service life) through corresponding research activities. The targeted instrumentation of the machining tools used in combination with an ultra-sonic superimposed movement during the cutting process creates new measurement and machining possibilities. On the one hand, this enables better cutting edge qualities to be produced and, on the other hand, targeted modifications to be made so that a deep understanding of the interactions between cutting edge qualities and the property profile of hybrid structures can be achieved. In the field of additive manufacturing of metallic multi-material structures, intelligent processing should be possible, which detects different material properties during processing, e.g. through natural frequency analyses, and adjusts the processing parameters accordingly. Ideally, the proposed multi-axis machining center should be integrated both digitally and physically into the existing process chains at the ILH.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Ultraschallfräse
• Instrumentation Group: 2170 Chemische Sägen, Elektrolyse-Ätz-Maschinen, Funkenerosionsgeräte
• Applicant Institution: Universität Paderborn
• Leader: Professor Dr. Thomas Tröster