Saxon Alliance for MAterial- and Resource-Efficient TechnOlogies - AMARETO
Handing over funds at ILK, TU Dresden: Prof. Putz, Head of the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Processes at TU Chemnitz and Head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Processes IWU, Dr. Eva-Maria Stange, Saxony´s State Minister for Sciences and Arts, Prof. Maik Gude, board member of the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology of TU Dresden as well as Prof. David Rafaja, Head of the Institute of Materials Science at TU Bergakademie Freiberg (left to right)
The Ministry of Science and Arts is funding the project “Saxon Alliance for MAterial- and Resource-Efficient TechnOlogies - AMARETO“ by means of the EU fund EFRE from 2017 until 2020 with 5.5 million Euros. On January 30th 2017, Minister of Science Dr. Eva-Maria Stange handed over funding commitment to the project leaders at TU Dresden, TU Chemnitz, TU Bergakademie Freiberg and Fraunhofer Institute IWU. These four-year funds are considered seed capital to the joint research project, which is to be complemented by third-party resources and the involvement of industrial partners.
The ITM of TU Dresden, led by Prof. Dr. Chokri Cherif, will particularly introduce its expertise regarding manufacturing technologies and machine engineering including cross-scale simulation models for the direct, one-step manufacturing of reinforced, functionalized 2D and 3D preforms.
Until now, these three Saxon universities and the Fraunhofer IWU have been conducting their research activities in the fields of material sciences, process design and product technologies isolated from each other; through this alliance they get the opportunity to combine strengths and put their research to the next level. The main objective of the project is to establish intelligent linking between efficient materials design, the development of load-specific materials systems and structural building components as well as optimized production technologies for machine, automotive and aerospace engineering. Due to these collaborative efforts, desired properties of the end product and resource-efficient manufacturing processes can be considered during materials development already by means of consistent data models and joint interfaces. Nationwide research cooperation by all partners is supposed to shorten development times – from the selection of materials up to serial production. In times of increasing product customization, optimizing new products and processes and thus improving efficiency has become extremely important within international competition.
Researchers at TU Dresden are developing multiple-component materials and potential manufacturing technologies (Smart Design, SAB 100291445). Colleagues at TU Bergakademie Freiberg are working on high-strength metallic materials and hard materials that belong to the class of multi-component materials and are required for according manufacturing technologies (smart materials). At TU Chemnitz and Fraunhofer IWU, researchers are generating data-driven production processes using visualizations and simulations (smart production).
Minister of Science Dr. Eva-Maria Stange emphasized: “Researchers from various colleges, universities and institutes within the State of Saxony set new standards nationally and internationally with regard to the development of innovative materials and according production technologies. Thus, it is very beneficial to these experts and their research to work together and share responsibilities. That is the particular advantage of AMARETO. The project becomes another flourishing example of great cooperation between researchers of three technical universities, comparable to Saxony´s Lightweight Engineering Alliance. The decision to support this project via EU funds is tied to hopes of processing research results in a way that allows for quick and easy industrial implementation. Hence, Fraunhofer IWU is a particularly important partner in alliance with the three technical universities, due to its focus on application-oriented research.”
Complete press release, Jan. 30th 2017, published by the Federal Ministry of Sciences and Arts