Press release in English
(Octopus Catamarans)A research project at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen is about developing a lightweight construction concept for sports boats and yachts. Prof. Dr. Stephan Marzi from the Gießen Institute for Mechanics and Materials Research is working with the boat builder Krake Catamarane from Apolda, Thuringia. International cooperation partners are Prof. Anders Biel from the Swedish University of Karlstad and the Lamera company from Gothenburg. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is supporting THM 's project contribution with 190,000 euros as part of the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs.

In modern boat building, manufacturers mainly use duroplastics such as glass fiber reinforced plastic as the basic material. The material is light and dimensionally stable, but has a number of disadvantages: it tears and splinteres easily, is difficult to dispose of and takes a lot of energy to produce. Stainless steel, which is also used, is very heavy and therefore leads to high fuel consumption.

The project partners therefore want to use a new material for the outer skin of the boats. The "Hybrix" developed by Lamera is an easily formable composite material made of a microfiber core, two metal layer laminates and two layers of adhesive. The core can be made of steel or polymeric material. Metals such as aluminum or steel can be used for the laminates. Compared to a pure steel construction, the new lightweight construction saves 75 percent of the weight of the ship's hull while maintaining the same mechanical properties. The new material has good heat and sound insulation properties and, unlike plastics, is non-flammable.

(Lamera)In the project, the researchers want to optimize Hybrix for use in boat building. A suitable fastening technique must be found. Suitable large-scale further processing methods such as grinding, coating and edge covering are to be researched. The mechanical properties of the metal sandwich structure are simulated and verified experimentally. Finally, the influence of salt water, sun and wind on the material is to be examined. At the end of the project, two prototypes are to be designed and built using the new material on the basis of a boat already manufactured by Krake Catamarane.

The research project has a duration of two years. It is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova with a total of 675,000 euros.