Metal laser beam melting is a relatively new manufacturing process. In a research project at the TH Mittelhessen in Friedberg Prof. Dr. Udo Jung, what possibilities it offers to use findings from bionics in lightweight construction. The university professor's partners from the Competence Center for Automotive, Mobility and Materials Research are FKM Sintertechnik from Biedenkopf and the automotive supplier Woco from Bad Soden-Salmünster. The state of Hesse is supporting the project with a good 300,000 euros.
Bionics attempts to convert nature's processes, construction and development principles into technical applications. Well-known examples are Velcro fasteners, swimming fins or technical flow devices that are based on the low-resistance body shapes of fish.
Conventional manufacturing processes often do not allow the manufacture of components with special shapes. These restrictions are largely eliminated with metal laser beam melting. With this technique, a product is built up in layers. A laser beam controlled by a CAD data set fuses very thin layers of powder at temperatures of several hundred degrees. Processing is carried out layer by layer in the vertical direction. This additive manufacturing has various advantages over conventional processes. Limitations of classic production, which have to avoid cavities or undercuts in cast parts, for example, are no longer applicable.
"Additive manufacturing processes for metallic materials therefore enable a high degree of design freedom in the construction of highly stressed components. With our project, we are pursuing the goal of using bionics and additive manufacturing for lightweight construction. We will develop two processes: a computer-aided process for finding optimal structures with the help of bionics and a manufacturing process for additively manufactured components with high surface quality without post-processing," says Udo Jung.
As an example, the scientists want to produce a new type of wastegate actuator. This is a component that controls the boost pressure in an exhaust gas turbocharger and is exposed to high loads. Among other things, the electrohydraulically operated wastegate actuator is said to be more powerful and lighter than the conventional electromechanical one and consume only half as much energy. The project partners expect sales of the new product to reach one million units in 2020 and two million in 2025.
The research project runs for two years and has a total volume of 420,000 euros. It is supported as part of the Hessian "state offensive for the development of scientific and economic excellence" (Loewe).