Materials Science and Production Engineering

This high-profile area is dedicated to the field of Production Engineering, with a special focus on aspects of materials science. A distinctive feature of production engineering made-in-Bremen is that the high-profile area encompasses the entire production chain of engineering sciences – from distortion, through all subsequent processing and machining processes, up to the surface finishing of a broad range of basic materials and semi-finished products such as metals, ceramics, semi-conductors, plastics, fibres, foams, and composites. Research in this area is not restricted to purely technical issues, but also to economic and operational aspects. Research activities in the Faculty of Production Engineering are based on cooperation with research groups drawn from the disciplines of Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, Physical Chemistry, and Electronic Engineering, as well as with non-university institutes like the Fraunhofer Institute of Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM), the Institute of Materials Science (IWT), the Bremen Institute of Applied Beam Technology (BIAS), the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the Bremen Institute of Production and Logistics (BIBA).

The successful cooperation in this high-profile area has led to the establishment of two Collaborative Research Centers (CRC), a Transregio-CRC, and a DFG Research Unit. Work in CRC 570 “Distortion Engineering” involves systematic research on the fundamental mechanisms that cause distortion when metal components are subjected to heat treatment. Methods to avoid and compensate for metal distortion in manufacturing are being developed on the basis of three model components – a bearing ring, a shaft, and a gear wheel. The main focus of CRC 747 “Micro-Cold Forming” is on the development of manufacturing processes and methods for forming metal components, incorporating the central aspects of materials development and component testing. The CRC encompasses a broad research spectrum ranging from materials development, through respective manufacturing processes and their optimization, up to planning aspects of micro-cold forming techniques. The objective of the transregional CRC/TR4 “Process Chains for the Replication of Complex Optical Elements” is to develop a scientific basis for the deterministic and economical manufacture of optical elements with complex geometries. This is to be achieved via the development of closed process chains involving two as yet relatively little explored technologies; namely, mould-making for optical elements and replication processes entailing blank molding and injection molding techniques. The CRC is run in cooperation with Aachen and Stillwater/Oklahoma, USA.

Also embedded within this high-profile area are a Reinhart-Koselleck-Projekt (development of cooling lubricants based on elements of microorganisms and free of mineral oil), a DFG Research Unit with the Faserinstitut Bremen (construction techniques for lightweight CFK aluminum junction structures) and a DFG International Research Training Group (non-metallic porous structures for physical-chemical functions).

Since 2008, researchers from eleven institutions (three Faculties of the University and eight intra- and extra-university research institutes) have joined forces within a Central Research Unit entitled “Integrated Solutions in Sensorial Structure Engineering” (ISIS). They are working on an ambitious joint research program in the field of sensorial materials for “intelligent” products. Their vision is to develop materials and components capable of compiling and interpreting data on their current state or their immediate environment. The cooperation between members of the collaborative unit covers all aspects of materials technology, manufacturing technology, and information processing, even including energy supply. Over the long term, via technological innovation ISIS is to promote the spread of integrated sensorics into a number of different fields of application and within the University to coordinate long-term planning in the area of the functionalization of materials and their surfaces.

Beside the classical fields of mechanical engineering and process technology, the transfer-oriented fields of application of this high-profile area include aviation and aerospace, automobile manufacture, environmental technology, optical technologies, and renewable energies. In the area of wind energy, the University of Bremen – together with other research institutions and industrial partners in North West Germany organized in Forwind – has gone through to the final selection round of the “Leading-Edge Cluster Competition”, launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The application is being coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute of Wind Energy and Energy Systems Engineering (IWES). The aim is to boost the development of offshore wind energy technology via the creation of a functioning value-added chain in the cluster, which bases on the coordinated supply chains between the enterprises with mutual interfaces and uniform quality features and standards. The idea is that the leading-edge cluster will lead to an “industrialization” of cooperation capable of addressing more far reaching technological and ecological challenges.

In 2007, a link between Production Engineering and Physics was created by supplementing the research field “Computational Materials Science” with two endowed professorships. The subsequently founded Bremen Center for Computational Materials Science (BCCMS) is concerned with computer-aided theoretical materials research. By means of multi-scale methods ranging from quantum-mechanical atomistic level, through simplified approaches, up to continuous theoretical description the research focuses especially on issues surrounding the structural design of complex materials in order to develop new functional components and materials in close cooperation with research institutes and industrial partners. The BCCMS cooperates with the University of Groningen, a top Dutch university in the neighboring region.