Advanced Shaped Sandwich Composites for Mechanical, Thermal and Acoustic Applications (ACTion) - Development of a high-volume foaming technology and a design tool for functionally integrated sandwich structures.
Sandwich structures offer a high potential for weight reduction with simultaneous integration of additional functions, e.g. in the field of thermal or acoustic management. This becomes particularly important when considering the change in the automotive industry towards electric mobility. Sandwich structures are already widely used, especially in the aviation and aerospace industry. However, today's structures have various disadvantages, such as restrictions in shaping or can only be applied through work intensive manufacturing processes. There is therefore no conversion to large-scale production processes. Innovative manufacturing processes must therefore be developed that have the potential to economically produce complex, functionally integrated sandwich structures.
In the project, the modified KU-FIZZ injection moulding process patented by Volkswagen AG, with a current TRL of 3-4, is being investigated with special consideration of the requirements for large series production in the automotive industry towards a higher TRL level. The mechanical, thermal and acoustic performance is characterized on the basis of experimental data and numerical optimization, while a data-driven approach is used to monitor and link the parameters of the manufacturing process to the product properties. In addition, a design tool for planning, construction and evaluation will be developed and its transferability to other application areas, in particular to the aerospace industry, will be tested.
The Singaporean partner project focuses on the design and manufacture of free-form lattice cores for sandwich structures for the aerospace industry. The project thus provides important findings and data for the development of a comprehensive life-cycle tool for the evaluation of sandwich structures for the automotive and aviation industries.
