Results of the „Lightweight Forging“ Research Network Available – Invitation to the Final Presentation

The projects focused on material concepts and production technologies for high-performance gears, manufactured gears made of forged parts with different materials as well as sheet stacks, newly designed piston pins and forged steering knuckles in a hybrid design. Other important aspects of the work included lifecycle considerations and determining innovation obstacles when implementing new technologies in an industrial context.

By means of close collaboration among researchers and companies from the committees that accompanied the project, analyses and research were carried out in the precompetitive projects, funded in the collaborative industrial research program (IGF) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The Research Network was organized and supported by four research associations of the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations "Otto von Guericke" (AiF): Heat Treatment and Material Engineering Association (AWT), Bremen, Research Association for Drive Technology (FVA), Frankfurt, Research Association of Steel Forming (FSV), Hagen, and particularly by the Research Association for Steel Application (FOSTA), Düsseldorf.

The most important results will be presented to science and industry during the closing event, and the researchers will be available for discussion. The presentation of the results will be carried out by researchers from the individual subprojects, based on the parts analyzed. The event will be opened with a welcome speech by Director-General Stefan Schnorr, BMWi, and Dr. Thomas Kathöfer, Managing Director, AiF e. V.

"With this event and with the reports on the subprojects that will be available at the beginning of 2019, implementation of the results in an industrial context will be promoted in order to strengthen the position of Germany as a business location. Another important goal is to ensure that the image of steel continues to improve through the results relating to lightweight design for forged parts," says Professor Hans-Werner Zoch, Managing Director of the Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering (IWT), Professor of Materials Engineering at the University of Bremen, and Chairman of the Research Network.

Venue: FOSTA – Research Association for Steel Application (Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung e. V.),
Sohnstr. 65, 40237 Düsseldorf
Date: Thursday, October 11, 2018, 10:00 a.m.

“Lightweight Forging” Research Network
The Research Network entitled “Lightweight Forging – Innovation Network for Technological Progress in Part, Process and Material Design for Forged Parts in Automotive Technology” was generated in 2015 from the idea competition “Leading Technologies for SMEs” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), Berlin, and the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF), Cologne. The goal is to use new steel materials, part designs and production methods to make the car powertrain – from the engine to the transmission and wheel bearings – even lighter, while still fulfilling the stringent requirements with regard to service life. Ten research institutes from five German federal states are participating in a total of six projects.