Projects

Elastomer failure needs to be detected quickly and easily — but how? Due the variety of failure patterns that occur on elastomer components, it is not always easy to establish the exact cause of a failure. In the internal Fraunhofer project, AI Failure Analysis of Technical Elastomers, researchers are exploring the possibility of objectively analyzing elasto-mer failures through artificial intelligence. The resulting process will be transferred to customer-specific applications at a later stage.

The aim of the BMWK lead project VVMethods was to develop test procedures and systems and to provide methods to demonstrate the safety of automated vehicles. The VVM project worked on the urban intersection use case and examined both automated driving functions and the complete automation of vehicles (SAE Level 4 and 5).

The experimental characterization of cyclic material and component behavior is energy-, time- and cost-intensive. A paradigm shift is sometimes necessary to meet future market requirements. In the context of secondary aluminum, it becomes clear how important an alternative approach to the verification of cyclic properties is, as the conventional approaches are beyond the time frame.

Sandwich elements are increasingly being used in the façades of industrial halls and cold stores. In the ReSaMon project, the BMWK is promoting optimized production of the elements. In the project, a consortium of seven partners is developing a non-destructive and non-contact measurement technology that can identify potential weak points and changes in material properties during the production process. Fraunhofer LBF is investigating the possibilities of data-based methods for detecting and localizing defects in conjunction with the developed measurement technology.

The FutureCarProduction lead project focuses on the mobility lead market and develops solutions for sustainable and innovative car body concepts that go far beyond the current trend of giga-casting. Eight Fraunhofer Institutes are investigating the question of how production concepts for car bodies with state-of-the-art joining and casting technologies can be evaluated in terms of their effects on sustainability and recyclability in order to conserve resources and increase efficiency and performance. In the project, Fraunhofer LBF is answering the question of how the reliability and safety of modern car body structures can be assessed and verified.

Modern technology makes it possible to implement high-resolution 3D scans of components, which can be used to map the surface topography when evaluating the fatigue strength of additively manufactured metallic structures. Advances in computing power also enable a location-dependent fine meshing in finite element simulations and thus form the basis of a digital twin. By combining both sub-steps, the failure under cyclic loading can now be correlated with the stress distribution on the surface of WAAM-manufactured structures, thus enabling the structural behavior to be better mapped in the fatigue strength assessment.

In the development process for new wheels, the structural dynamic properties are estimated by the suppliers using numerical models. To validate these properties, car manufacturers require experimental proof of these properties. For this purpose, the first newly manufactured wheels must be examined using methods of experimental structural dynamics according to special OEM specifications. Based on many years of experience, Fraunhofer LBF is familiar with these methods and the OEM's specifications. We offer wheel manufacturers the opportunity to carry out the required experiments to provide evidence.