More than ever, future developments in technologies and products will be judged by the extent to which they improve resource efficiency and take effective climate and environmental protection into account. Germany is seeing great innovative and growth potential for key interacting technologies in the area of multifunctional lightweight structures. This book presents select research findings for new combinations of technology that have been developed by Germany's first Federal Cluster of Excellence in the field of lightweight structures (MERGE). The presented findings promise to be particularly sustainable and broadly impactful in their application. New methods, potential solutions, and examples of pilot applications take center stage as the text explores the next generation of functional integration via lightweight structures. The underlying manufacturing processes are based on textile, polymer, and metal processing techniques, all of which are suited for large batch production, flexibility, and reproducibility.

Contents

• Hybrid construction methods and technologies
Semi-finishing and preform technologies
• Metal-intensive hybrid technologies
Textile and polymer-based technologies
• Micro and nano system integration
Surface and interface technologies
• Modeling, integrative simulation and optimization

Editor

Prof. Lothar Kroll directs the Institute of Lightweight Structures and the Affiliated Institute CETEX at Chemnitz University of Technology. As part of his professorship of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology at TU Chemnitz and his work for the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology as Head of the STEX Research Center as well as the ALighT project center (located in Poland), his efforts focus on research and development in the area of textile-reinforced plastics and hybrid lightweight structures and their associated in-line and in situ combinations of technologies (so-called MERGE technologies).

This book presents key research findings on the combination of different technologies that promise to be particularly sustainable and broadly impactful in their application. The findings were compiled during the course of the first funding period for the MERGE Cluster of Excellence. New methods, potential solutions, and exemplary pilot applications take center stage as the text explores the next generation of functional integration via lightweight structures. The underlying manufacturing processes are based on textile, polymer, and metal processing techniques, all of which are suitable for large batch production, flexibility, and reproducibility.