Project description

The Lightweight Construction Research Project (FPL), funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, strengthens the Research Focus on Lightweight Construction (FSPL) at the University of Applied Sciences in Landshut. This is a platform for applied R&D projects and knowledge transfer in the fields of lightweight materials, design and manufacturing technologies.  The research work ranges from the analysis and synthesis of the material microstructure to the computable and ready-to-use lightweight structure. We offer young scientists, bachelor and master students as well as students in project work an attractive, motivating, scientific environment in the field of lightweight construction and have our research results measured by their implementation potential as well as in the international scientific network.

The research focus on lightweight construction brings together the competencies of various disciplines in the field of lightweight construction. Prof. Dr. O. Huber heads the research focus and acts as the contact person. To ensure a lean and efficient structure, the research focus is internally structured thematically according to the individual laboratories, each of which is represented by the laboratory managers. A common use of the equipment is daily practice, since the fields of interest of the laboratory managers also show content overlaps. The research focus on lightweight construction uses the following laboratories:

• Laboratory Physical Analytics I: Scanning Electron Microscopy (H. Saage)
• Laboratory Physical Analytics II: Computed Tomography (H. Saage)
• Laboratory Thermal Analytics: DSC, TGA, DMA, TMA, IR (W. Fischer)
• Laboratory General Materials Technology: quantitative light microscopy, micro and macro hardness measurement, ultrasonic testing, tensile testing (50kN) (H. Saage)
• Lightweight Structures Laboratory: universal tensile testing machine 150kN, resonance pulser, servo-hydraulic testing machine with oscillating foundation and temperature chambers, 2 hydropulser, biaxial hydropulser (O. Huber)
• Lightweight Structures Laboratory: universal tensile testing machine 20kN, 3 hydropulsers (incl. tension-torsion), temperature and climate chambers, glove box, light microscopes (H. Klaus)
• Lightweight Structures Laboratory: 2 hydropulsers, T-RTM machine, heating press, laser welding machine 2kW (O. Huber, W. Fischer, H. Saage, M. Jautze)
• Lightweight mechanics laboratory: Teaching experiments, resonance pulser, electrodynamic shaker, strain measurement using gray value correlation (O. Huber)
• Laboratory Plastics Technology (W. Fischer)
• Additive Manufacturing Laboratory with machines of different additive manufacturing processes such as FDM, MJM and LS as well as different scanning devices (N. Babel)

Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Hubert Klaus, PP1 will manufacture multi-curved sandwich elements and further develop damage models for describing cellular composite materials (CCM). The subproject builds on findings from the "TeTIHS" research project, in which, among other things, a concept for the manufacturing technology of infiltration cores for multi-curved sandwich elements is being developed. Facilities for reproducible production and testing of the mechanical properties of ZVW are already available. A demonstrator in the form of a multi-curved sandwich component is to be manufactured.

Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Otto Huber, the focus in PP2 is on wrought magnesium (Mg) alloys, which have a high lightweight design potential in terms of weight-specific quasi-static and cyclic strengths. However, it is currently not possible to perform a service life calculation of formed Mg structural components using common fatigue strength programs. For this purpose, a suitable material law is missing which mathematically describes the strong basal texturing and the associated localizations of the plastic strains in the form of bands of twinned grains (BvK). In the predecessor project "MagForm", the "highly strained volume" method was developed for the fatigue strength calculation (Bfr). Using the experimentally determined strain field, the local strain in the BvK is evaluated to determine the damage parameters. The main objective of the present research is to develop a validated method for calculating the fatigue life of formed and notched Mg structural components.

Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Holger Saage, the properties of laser-treated components made of intermetallic titanium-aluminum alloys are being researched in PP3, and additive manufacturing is being expanded to include laser-based powder cladding of titanium-based alloys. The research focus already has a laser welding facility with separate heating and cooling capabilities. At the start of the project, the adaptation of laser buildup welding is to be carried out on the laser welding system. So far, preliminary tests have been carried out with regard to shielding gas optimization and remelting tests of St, Al and TiAl components, as well as for joining Mg sheets by means of the laser welding process. The main objective of the research project is to characterize the fatigue properties of powder clad material samples. Additional research topics in the areas of titanium 3D printing as well as RTM processes of reactive biopolymers are planned.