Hochfrequenz-Plasmastrahlquellen — Neue Werkzeuge für industrielle teilchenstrahlgestützte Dünnschichtprozesse

Radio-Frequency Plasma Beam Sources — New tools for industrial particle beam induced thin film processes The applications for ion beam techniques has moved from pure base research to industry, mainly for microelectronics applications. Their potential for future surface and thin film processes are known to a large number of users and developers in this area. However such techniques are relative sophisticated and due to the costs industrial applications are often limited. RF-plasma beam technology with its specific advantages may be a possible candidate to overcome these restrictions. For some applications RF plasma beam technology is just on the step to an industrial use. But this technique is still not generally known, and its possibilities deserves more attention. Within this article the principle of plasma beam formation and construction of plasma beam formation and construction of plasma beam sources are described. Some application examples show the possibilities given to users with this technique.     

Der Leichtbau‐Cluster – ein branchen‐ übergreifendes Netzwerk für den Leichtbau

The Leichtbau‐Cluster – an Interbranch Network for Lightweight Construction The Leichtbau‐Cluster (LC ‐ Competence Network for Lightweight Technologies) is an interbranch network of enterprises, university‐level and other (commercial) research institutions. The multidisciplinary cooperation strengthens innovation and increases the competitive ability of the associated partners. The network activities especially focus on the needs of small and medium‐sized businesses. The three principal topics discussed are: Materials for lightweight applications, lightweight construction modes an design principles, advanced manufacturing technology for lightweight applications. The objective targets are supported and therefore the network is co‐funded by bavarian state government. The University of Applied Sciences Landshut is the network's legally responsible body.     

Kohlenstoffasern – Herstellung,Eigenschaften, Verwendung

Carbon Fibres – Production, Properties and Applications Carbon fibres are primarily regarded as a reinforcing material for resins, but can also be used in metal or carbon matrices. It is anticipated that over the next few years the present inception phase will develop into one of rapid business growth. The expected turnover and price developments, as well as the main fields of application are discussed. A great variety of carbon fibre types are available, whose properties are dictated by differences in the basic structure, yielding an exceptional range of properties from the isotropic low modulus to the high strength, high modulus, highly anisotropic HT and HM carbon fibres. The method of manufacture and the precursor materials are described, in particular the individual processing steps and changes accompanying the pyrolysis of PAN fibres. Future improvements in processing technology and precursor quality, promise a significant increase in the already very high properties level.     

Airbus Airframe – New Technologies and Management Aspects

Airframe innovations in all relevant technological fields are important for the development of high performance airframes best to satisfy the market needs. The Airbus “intelligent” airframe is optimized in terms of new materials and advanced design, and implements smart structures technologies step by step. Hence, the competition between technologies (metal vs. composite) is leading to a hybrid airframe solution in the latest Airbus aircraft. This ensures that the best mature innovative technology is used for each specific application. Airbus is in the leading position for application of advanced technologies and has accumulated broad experience in all airframe technologies with all types of structural materials. In order to meet the current and future challenges and to incorporate worldwide best state‐of the‐art technological solutions, cooperation with external suppliers and strategic partners is essential. Increasingly decentralized engineering and manufacturing co‐operations – at an international level – lead to challenging aircraft program and technology management. Therefore, Airbus is intensifying its cooperation with research facilities, equipment, material and structure suppliers based on new Airbus ‐ Supplier cooperation philosophies.     

PVD – Eine Erfolgsgeschichte mit Zukunft

PVD – A success story with a future PVD coatings in the range of a few nanometers up to some microns have become state of the art in engineering technology. PVD coatings can be found anywhere in our everday lives. They are used in data storage mediums such as CDs or DVDs. Car or architectural glasses are improved by thermal insulation coatings. A diffusion barrier is achieved via PVD coatings at food packaging. For decorative aspects sham jewelery and accessoires are coated as well as fittings. In the last three decades PVD coatings have been established in a variety of technical applications acquiring wear protection and/or friction reduction. First, coatings for tools have been developed, later on for components as well. So, in the past lots of experiences have been made not only in coating development, but likewise in methodical product design. By contrast, the surface has not yet been regarded as construction element. Here the knowledge is just at the beginning. The achieved performance of coated components can be improved drastically if the tribological system consisting of coating, substrate and intermediate material is designed for one single application with regard to the macro‐ and micro geometry. An exemplary application derived from the collaborative research center (SFB 442) “Environmentally friendly tribosystems” at the RWTH Aachen university is discussed. Results of fundamental research and their way into industrial applications are presented. The research development is reflected with regard to the development of the industrial PVD market. Regarding a process chain for the exemplary application the development method of surface technology is explained beginning with the production up to field testing of a new product.     

Festwalzen – eine Technologie für effizienten Leichtbau

Deep Rolling – a technology for efficient lightweight design Deep rolling is a proven method for increasing the fatigue strength of dynamically loaded parts. Although this application has been used for many years, procedures that induce work hardening and residual stresses are not well known. This article concerns both deep rolling and the potential for considering the resultant residual stresses in the design phase of components to achieve efficient lightweight design. In addition, the article includes new research results regarding the numerical modelling of deep rolling.     

HiPIMS ‐ Technologie und Anwendungsfelder

HiPIMS‐technology and field of application Starting wi^th the introduction of planar magnetron cathodes in the mid seventies magnetron sputtering has taken nearly all industrial branches, dealing wi^th thin film coatings, which are in assault. Numerous milestones within the last 30 years were set, whereas some of the most important were the development of rotary cathodes (?CMAG”?) and the introduction of pulsed plasmas. H igh P ower I mpulse M agnetron S puttering (HiPIMS) or H igh P ower P ulse M agnetron S puttering (HPPMS) is a further innovative step towards coatings wi^th superior quality. HiPIMS typically uses pulses in the megawatt range, resulting in power densities of 1000 W/cm² and higher (compared to typically 20 – 50 W/cm²). The major benefit of the new technology is a very high degree of ionised target material of 50 – 90%, leading to superior coating properties like high density, very smoo^th surfaces, and high refractive index for optical coatings. Besides the introduction in highly ionised pulse plasmas the potential of this new technology will be demonstrated by recent results of applied research for applications in different industrial branches.     

Transition‐Metal (Co,Ni, and Fe)‐Based Electrocatalysts for the Water Oxidation Reaction

Increasing energy demands and environment awareness have promoted extensive research on the development of alternative energy conversion and storage technologies with high efficiency and environmental friendliness. Among them, water splitting is very appealing, and is receiving more and more attention. The critical challenge of this renewable‐energy technology is to expedite the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) because of its slow kinetics and large overpotential. Therefore, developing efficient electrocatalysts with high catalytic activities is of great importance for high‐performance water splitting. In the past few years, much effort has been devoted to the development of alternative OER electrocatalysts based on transition‐metal elements that are low‐cost, highly efficient, and have excellent stability. Here, recent progress on the design, synthesis, and application of OER electrocatalysts based on transition‐metal elements, including Co, Ni, and Fe, is summarized, and some invigorating perspectives on the future developments are provided.     

The RIM-process — A highly developed technology

To produce high-quality polyurethane-reaction injection moulding (PUR-RIM) of the sort used in automotive exterior applications, the essential requirements are high-performance machinery and equipment plus a thorough understanding of all the processing parameters. Successful production of blemish free articles at fast cycles, ready for painting and requiring no post-treatment is only possible if the interconnected chemical and technical processing sequences all function in perfect harmony. Working towards this goal, several teams of chemists, processing engineers and manufacturers have been co-operating on intensive programmes of research and development, and today it can justifiably be claimed that the RIM process is remarkably mature for such a young technology. A determined effort is now required to incorporate the latest findings into the design of new machinery and to modify existing machinery accordingly.

In this paper, a detailed discussion is presented of the two most important processing parameters (temperature and pressure) and the various factors which depend on them, and the need for accurate control of these parameters during the manufacturing process is stressed. Details are also given of a production line complete with tooling designed specifically for the process. Together with an appropriate system of measuring, monitoring and recording the processing parameters, this is an essential prerequisite for cost-efficient production.     

Hochpolymere Werkstoffe. Aufbau – Eigenschaftsbild – Anwendung

High Polymers: Structure — Properties — Application . The close relationship between the Institute of Materials Technology and the State Institute of Materials Testing gives an informal and continual active exchange of research on materials, materials testing and education. A special correlation in the field of high polymers was reached. Outstanding examples from the important research work over a period of the last five years have been singled out, and the development of the subjects the extent of the problems involved, the complexity and the results of the subject have been outlined. It is here, chiefly a matter of investigation of the relationship between the structure or duro-plastic multicomponent systems, the dependence of molecular orientation and electrostatic charge of thermoplastic plastic materials on the conditions of processing, as well as those of the question of the properties of the components of Duro- and Thermoplastics. The research work which had been planned and begun concentrated as usual on the related applications, the reasonableness of engineering processes involved in the range — row-stuff and the end-product. It is, however, readily recognizable, that the interdisciplinary collaboration in these tasks will be intensified in the future.     

Qualifikationsbedarf Oberflächentechnik: Unternehmen,Universitäten,Fachhochschulen. Need of qualification surface technology: enterprises,universities, universities of applied sciences

With constantly growing requirements for research, development and application the modern surface technology has been developed into an interdisciplinary key and cross section technology. Tailor‐made qualification is a substantial condition, in order to fully exploit the potential of innovation in this future field. Not sufficient offers of further education and lacking qualification of the operational personnel can obstruct the industrial application of surface technology. This paper specifies qualification requirements of enterprises within the area of surface techniques and reveals, how universities and universities of applied sciences adjust themselves future‐oriented to the qualification need and contribute to the broadening of the technological efficiency. Current studies are taken as a basis, which were conducted on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and coordinated by the VDI Technology Center Duesseldorf in the context of a qualification initiative on surface technology.     

Research,technology and development evaluation; developments in Japan

The reseach, technology and development (RTD) evaluation in terms of science and technology policy has come to be important in stimulating research activities and in continuously keeping the vitality and the higher quality of research in RTD institutions. There are two criteria on the RTD evaluation, i.e, in-house evaluation from the stand point of RTD management and independent macroscopic evaluation for the decision making of companies and/or policy making for science and technology policy.The most important point for RTD evaluation in the former criteria is in the mission itself. RTD in universities, public research institutes, and enterprises have different objectives and characteristics. Therefore, the mission and methodology of RTD evaluations should be different, by categorized type and objectives of research institutions, and be developed inhouse. Results of RTD evaluations should be fed back to researchers or engineers and disclosed principally if the mission was to stimulate knowledge creation through RTD activities.The in-house RTD evaluation can be classified in general into three categories: prior evaluation, mid-term review, and ex-post facto review. The methodologies to evaluate RTD in each phase of the RTD process are different, even among those institutes categorized into the same type such as national and regional research institutes. In this paper, two cases of RTD evaluation a) in Riken, which was founded in 1917 as a private research foundation and later reorganized as a semi-public research corporation of the Science and Technology-Agency, b) in regional public research institutes.RTD evaluation from the view point of policy assessment of governmental science and technology policy is discussed through analysis of data obtained by the survey of research activities in regional public research institutes. It can be concluded that developments and introduction of RTD evaluation as a new management system in these institutes is improving the research environment and advancing the quality of research. The differences of RTD evaluation between a Center of Excellence (COE) such as Riken and local technology centers, will be compared and the policy implication of RTD evaluation will also be discussed in terms of promotion of science and technology.     

Revolution statt Evolution – Innovative Folientechnik für die Kfz‐Außenhaut

Revolution in Place of Evolution – Innovative Foil Technique for Automotive Body Shell Foil techniques represent an innovative option compared to traditional automotive painting. Cost reduction demands and light weight construction has brought forth the requirement to apply polymers at automotive body shells. Particularly, thermoplastic polymers enable a large freedom for the design of modern cars at moderate costs. The foil technique is also a promising approach for an introduction of long glass fibre reinforced thermoplastics into the outer body skin and to reach a Class A finish. One technology is the colormatchable foil technique (CFT). In cooperation with BASF Coatings AG, Münster INPRO developed this new technology to the stage of fundamental feasibility. This new technology stands short before its introduction in practice.     

Wolfgang Gaede ‐ Wegbereiter der Vakuumtechnik

The inventions of Wolfgang Gaede were the beginning of the extensive industrial application of vacuum technology: the 1905 invented high vacuum mercury pump simplified the production of electric bulbs. From this time Gaede joined the company E. Leybold's Nachfolger research & development activities for 40years. Three of his inventions, the diffusion pump, the (turbo‐) molecular pump and the principle of “gas ballast” are worldwide in use even today. The most important stations of Gaede's biography are reported.     

Umformtechnologie: Prozesse – Werkstoff‐ charakterisierung – Simulation – Verifikation

Sheet forming technology – processes, materials, simulation and verification Hydroforming and Deep Drawing represent leading technologies for forming sheet metal components. The Materials Branch of the University of Duisburg‐Essen works since more than 10 years in the field of Hydroforming and showed that Hydroforming increases the strength and that the weldings of hydroformed tubes normally exhibit a same (fatigue) strength as the base material. For an improvement of the economics of hydroforming spliced tubes were considered and standard hollow nodes for tubes nodes structures were developed and a proposal was made to produce these tubes in variable tools with segments or lamellas. A significant increase in economics of Hydroforming and of Deep Drawing of components is achieved by an introduction of the principles of an integral (cooperative) development of products. At the University of Duisburg‐Essen the following stages are run through: CAD (the Material Branch uses PRO/ENGINEER®), forming simulation – for that PAM‐STAMP® (ESI) and PATRAN MARC MENTAT® (MSC) are used – FEM strength calculation and EVICD for a consideration of variable service loading. Forming simulation needs as basic material data the yield curve, the parameters of anisotropy and the Forming Limit Curve (FLC). For a determination of the FLC in Deep Drawing Tests suitable Nakazima specimens were developed by applying the principles of cooperative product development. The specimens could then successfully be validated in Deep Drawing Tests, which were instrumented by the advanced 3D‐forming‐analysis‐system AUTOGRID inProcess (VIALUX). Various other forming simulations were also performed and some general rules for the performance of forming simulations were formulated. Finally, reverse engineering is briefly discussed.     

Patterning π‐Conjugated Polymers

π‐Conjugated polymers show promise as active materials in application areas such as microelectronics, electro‐optics, opto‐electronics, and photonics. A critical feature in this emerging technology is device fabrication and the reproducible deposition of active material. This review focuses on current trends in the spatial deposition of conjugated polymers.     

Thixoforming of Steels – A Status Report

The thixoforming of metals is a new forming technology, which combines the advantages of casting and forging and focuses on the production of structural components with complex shapes. Various components made of aluminium and magnesium are already industrially produced. Apart from this, using steels in the thixoforming processes is still a matter of research. This paper summarises the state of the art of steel thixoforming. Besides relevant material and process parameters, different process routes, numerical modelling techniques, and tool requirements are discussed. In addition, thixoformed prototypes of different steel grades are presented and evaluated with defect index cards, which characterise occurring defects and give suggestions how to avoid them. The design of suitable tool materials and tool concepts, the development of heating strategies which provide a homogeneous temperature distribution, and the development of thixoformable steels are main topics of current research. This paper focuses on the technology of steel thixoforming with regard to the material requirements, the production processes, and the accompanying current technical problems.     

INPLAS ‐ Das Kompetenznetz Industrielle Plasma‐Oberflächentechnik

Germany takes up a worldwide top position in the field of plasma technology and its applications. This was pointed out in a study commissioned by the German BMBF in 2003. To protect and expand this top position, more promotion and funding, which already started, is necessary. Furthermore a networking of different single activities is needed. Due to these recommendations, a network of competence in industrial plasma surface technology (INPLAS) was founded. The start up event took place on March 22, 2006 in Dresden. This article gives an overview on the objectives and performances of the network as well as on its organisation and structure.