Millions in funding: DFG sets up new research group under the leadership of TU Chemnitz

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved the establishment of the research group "Functional Surfaces through Adiabatic High-Speed Processes: Microstructure, Mechanisms and Model Development - FUNDAM³ENT" - the spokesperson is Prof. Dr Thomas Lampke, holder of the Professorship of Materials and Surface Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is setting up the new research group "Functional Surfaces through Adiabatic High-Speed Processes: Microstructure, Mechanisms and Model Development -FUNDAM³ENT" at Chemnitz University of Technology. This was decided by the DFG's Joint Committee on 28 June 2022 on the recommendation of the Senate. According to the DFG, the research group will be funded with around 3.72 million euros in the first four-year funding period - of which around 1.54 million euros will be at Chemnitz University of Technology. The spokesperson is Prof Dr Thomas Lampke, Chair of Materials and Surface Engineering at Chemnitz University of Technology.

"I am extremely pleased about the establishment of another DFG Research Unit at Chemnitz University of Technology within just a few months. I would like to congratulate Mr Lampke and all those involved on this outstanding success and thank them just as much. The research group will make a decisive contribution to further strengthening the core competences of materials and intelligent systems as well as resource-efficient production and lightweight construction at Chemnitz University of Technology and thus to the appeal of our university in general and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in particular," said the Rector of Chemnitz University of Technology, Prof. Dr Gerd Strohmeier.

The future research work of the new interdisciplinary DFG research group will focus on high-speed shearing, which is characterised by cutting speeds of greater than 0.8 m/s and represents an efficient alternative to conventional processes for shearing steel and light metals from an economic and ecological perspective. The "FUNDAM³ENT" research group, which operates at the interface between materials science and production technology, will focus in particular on the question of how various material and process-related influencing factors affect the formation of so-called "adiabatic shear bands" (ASB) in the cut surface of sheet metal during high-speed shearing. These shear bands are strongly sheared material areas a few micrometres wide that form at high deformation speeds, although the exact conditions under which these effects occur have not yet been systematically researched.

"Cut surfaces with ASB have excellent properties such as high hardness, low edge indentation, low roughness and virtually no burr and can ideally be used directly as functional surfaces," explains Lampke. The mechanical, tribological and corrosive properties of the cut surface are to be adjusted in a targeted manner by gaining a materials science-based understanding of the shear band formation. "The process would also enable us to eliminate the previously necessary energy-intensive post-processing steps and thus significantly shorten the process chain," says the spokesperson for the DFG research group.

The scientists in the research group, including numerous young researchers, are cooperating in six sub-projects. Two of these sub-projects are based at Chemnitz University of Technology (Chair of Materials and Surface Technology and Chair of Materials Science). The other sub-projects are being carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz, the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM in Freiburg, TU Dortmund University (Institute for Forming Technology and Lightweight Construction) and TU Munich (Chair of Forming Technology and Foundry Engineering). In addition to research and publication activities, the long-standing close co-operation between the participants will be further expanded through joint workshops and doctoral seminars. The research group is focussing in particular on the increasingly important topic of research data management. "The introduction of electronic workflows and the use of electronic lab notebooks in the sub-projects will lay the foundation for joint data utilisation and, in the long term, for integration into higher-level national and international data infrastructures such as MaterialDigital or NFDI-MatWerk," says Lampke.

Further information Dr Rico Drehmann, telephone 0371 531-39331, e-mail rico.drehmann@mb.tu-chemnitz.de and Prof Dr Thomas Lampke, telephone 0371 531-36163, e-mail thomas.lampke@mb.tu-chemnitz.de

Keyword: DFG Research Units

DFG Research Units enable scientists to address current and pressing issues in their fields and to establish innovative research directions. 174 Research Units, 14 Clinical Research Units and 16 Research Training Groups are currently funded by the German Research Foundation. In addition to the new research group "Functional Surfaces through Adiabatic High-Speed Processes: Microstructure, Mechanisms and Model Development - FUNDAM³ENT", the DFG established the Research group "Proximity-induced correlation effects in low-dimensional structures" under the leadership of Chemnitz University of Technology.

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