Application of additive manufactured structural components in the main spindle of a machine tool

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Brecher; Professor Dr.-Ing. Ingomar Kelbassa
• Subject Area: Production Automation and Assembly Technology ; Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 553529875

The modern machine tool is constantly striving for maximum productivity with simultaneously increasing demands on the achievable working accuracy. These contradictory requirements are significantly influenced by the dynamic machine behaviour, whereby increasing the system damping in particular is effective for reducing undesired process vibrations. In this context, externally applied vibration damping systems are used, for example, whose integration is cost-intensive on the one hand and requires a corresponding amount of available installation space on the other. For this reason, a direct functional integration of damping structures into the vibration-loaded structural components is sought. The main spindle as a central component in the force flax of a machine tool is particularly suitable for the integration of damping elements. As part of the proposed research project, the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University and the Institute for Industrialization of Smart Materials (ISM), together with the spindle manufacturer WEISS Spindeltechnologie GmbH, aim to develop a damping-optimized spindle nose that forms the transition between the tool interface and the spindle shaft. By using the additive manufacturing process selective laser melting (SLM), flexible structures can be created, whereby non-melted material can act as particle dampers or squeeze film dampers can be placed within created cavities. The cavities required for this are designed using FE-based topology optimisation methods. The approach aims at the effective damping of high-frequency spindle vibrations, which are often the cause of process instabilities in machining, especially in the high-speed range.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants (Transfer Project)
• Application Partner: Innomotics GmbH