The Fraunhofer IPA has over 60 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, automation, as well as and machine and plant engineering. The focus of the Department of Lightweight Production Technology is on construction, process technology and manufacturing technology for lightweight construction materials. The process technology for CFRP and other lightweight construction materials deals with the subjects of quality, suitability of machinery and plants, development of tools and clamping systems, as well as the subject fields of extraction technology and cooling lubricant concepts. The work in terms of lightweight construction ranges from design suitable for fiber composites, functional joining, topology and structural optimization, to the development of measuring techniques and mechatronic systems.

Product innovation:

Technologies for CFRP processing

The Fraunhofer IPA bundles technologies for CFRP processing: in current developments, together with industrial partners and funding from the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), techniques for machining, cleaning, extraction, quality control, painting and sealing are integrated into a single plant. This increases economic and energy efficiency. Non-productive times and handling losses are minimized, as are the discharge of harmful dusts and fibers from the processing plants. The resulting demonstrator enables further future integration and testing of technologies and procedures for fiber composites.