Easy-to-integrate custom solutions –

The success of innovative lightweight concepts depends on stable hybrid joints. We are therefore researching multi-material designs to join metals and plastics under high loads. These require safe processes to quickly and reproducibly produce strong joints from materials with different physical properties.

With the "HeatPressCool integrative" (HPCi^®) process, point-to-point joints between metal and plastics can be implemented within seconds – without adding adhesives, screws or rivets. HPCi^® presses both materials together and heats the metal selectively at the joint with inductive heat. The thermoplastic melts partially and bonds firmly with the metal as soon as it solidifies.

To integrate this process into production, we have developed a special joining gun with a modular design that, for example, can be mounted on a robot arm. Possible applications include body construction in the automotive industry, the aerospace and sports equipment industry, and electronics manufacturing.

Process reproducibility and the precise knowledge of relevant process parameters are key criteria for the use of additive manufacturing processes in modern industrial production. While in conventional processes – such as milling – tool calibration prior to process start is state of the art, in laser metal deposition (LMD) it is a major challenge.

The measuring system LIsec, short for "Light Section", developed at Fraunhofer IWS, is now able to solve this issue. A measuring laser scans the powder stream after it exits the nozzle. A camera records the exposed particles and passes the data to an analysis software, thereby providing the ability to calculate the three-dimensional distribution of the powder stream. Even before starting the process, all important characteristic data can thus be checked and information about the wear degree of the powder nozzle can be provided. As a result, the service life of the nozzles can be maximally extended and any process errors can be excluded in advance. This significantly increases the efficiency and reproducibility of laser metal deposition. Due to its small dimensions and a customized software interface, the LIsec measuring system can be integrated into almost all existing LMD systems.