Function-oriented production on the basis of characteristic process signatures

 

The growing demand for optimized components, for example in the automotive industry or medical technology, requires the development of new analytical methods with regard to the relationship between manufacturing processes and materials. The concept of so-called process signatures is an innovative engineering and scientific approach that summarizes all interactions between material and process. This new way of looking at and describing materials should make it possible to process them in an even more targeted way so that they can be optimally used to meet the respective requirements. The reason for this is that it has so far been difficult to specifically adjust near-surface properties, so-called edge zones, such as residual stress and hardness, in production. In addition to time and cost savings in development and production, the quality and service life of components can thus be increased.

This way of thinking and methodology is applied to various manufacturing processes. At WZL the subproject F03 is located, which deals with electrochemical processing. The work programme comprises theoretical and experimental research work with the aim of depositing functional correlations of material stresses and resulting material modifications during electrochemical machining in characteristic process signatures. First, the local chemical dissolution behaviour is determined and the ablation process and energy dissipation are simulated with the aid of various computer programs. Furthermore, the multiphase flow in the electrolyte is analyzed by visualization using a high-speed camera and considered in an energetic description of the active chain.

Further information can be found on the website of the research project process signatures.