Professorship Machine Elements and Product Development
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Professorship Machine Elements and Product Development 

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Start of the lectures at IKAT

07.04.2025
Start of the lectures at IKAT

Dear students,

The doors of the lecture halls are opening again. We would like to invite you to our courses. In addition to the basic modules Konstruktionslehre/Maschinenelemente II and IV, this semester you can attend the advanced modules Grundlagen der Tribologie, Kosten- und Ressourcenorientierte Produktentwicklung, Konstruktionsseminar (or Technische Produktentwicklung) and Maschinelles Lernen und Optimierung. Of course, we are also offering exciting topics for student research projects and positions for student assistants this semester. Please check our websites (homepage and LinkedIn) regularly. The courses are organized via OPAL. The exercises will already start in week 15.

Yours sincerely

Prof. Dr. sc. ETH Hasse and our teaching team

 

Design method for inner knurled interference fits

01.04.2025

In the research project FVA 956I ‘Design Method for Internal Knurled Interference Fits’, detailed investigations were undertaken into the static and cyclical transmission behaviour of internal knurling press fits. This shaft-hub connection is characterized by pressing a hardened hub with internal knurling onto an oversized, softer shaft, creating a form-fit and friction-fit contact zone. The high-performance potential of this connection is complemented by a high-volume utilisation value and offers considerable advantages, particularly when using thin-walled hubs (e.g., combination of a thin-walled, hardened gear wheel with a drive shaft). As part of the collaboration with the Chair of Forming Technology (TUC), the experimental and numerical results were integrated into an analytical design method. In addition, a simulation guideline was developed for the precise dimensioning of the connection, which makes it possible to fulfil application-specific performance requirements while considering the space restrictions in the drive train.

IKAT at 14th SAXSIM conference

26.03.2025
IKAT at 14th SAXSIM conference

The 14th Saxon Simulation User Meeting (SAXSIM) took place at Chemnitz University of Technology on 25 March 2025. The event once again provided a valuable platform for dialogue between science and industry with a clear focus on application-oriented research in the field of simulation.

Our colleague Mr Stahr from the ‘Sustainable Products’ specialist group presented an innovative approach to AI-supported topology optimisation of compliant mechanisms at the conference. This method makes it possible to design compliant mechanisms more efficiently and can be tried out by interested parties directly via our online tool.

Special thanks go to Prof M. Berger and our dedicated colleagues in the background who ensured that the conference ran smoothly. We are already looking forward to the next user meeting in Chemnitz and to further exciting insights into the world of simulation technologies.

Research for the future: business trip with a clear focus

18.03.2025

Research for the future: business trip with a clear focus

The opportunity awaits at Chemnitz University of Technology for those wishing to drive science forward and develop real solutions for the future. Our research teams are working on ground-breaking innovations in the fields of tribology and sustainability, among others, as was highlighted at the last conference. Those interested in learning more about these developments are invited to get in touch. We have created a one-minute video to offer you a glimpse into our daily activities and to demonstrate how we integrate scientific pursuits with a sense of responsibility. Immerse yourself in our research culture, characterised by collaboration, innovation and environmental sustainability. This involves international conferences, climate-friendly business travel and interdisciplinary projects as a regular part of our activities.

 

Your research. Your future. Your opportunity.

Research

Hydrodynamic/Plain Bearings

Hydrodynamic/Plain Bearings
Growing ecological and economic pressure leads to ever higher and more complex stresses in the development of plain bearings. The research at the institute is therefore primarily concerned with the investigation and development of alternative sliding materials and the influence of geometric deviations. The main focus of the investigations is the wear behavior under the most varied operating conditions (particles, mixed friction, hydrodynamics).

Shaft-Hub Connections

Shaft-Hub Connections
The permissible loads of selected WNV (tapered and cylindrical interference fit as well as feather key, knurled, polygonal joints, etc.) have been investigated primarily at IKAT for decades in the area of fatigue, fatigue and fatigue strength. The behavior under individual loads (bending, torsion) as well as combined dynamic loads is analysed.

Fretting Fatigue

Friction Corrosion
In contact with various components, deformations in connection with the prevailing joint pressure initiate the damage process of fretting fatigue. Current research activities at the institute focus on basic research on the damage phenomenon of fretting fatigue and pursue the objective of developing an impact-compliant calculation method.

Flexible Systems

Flexible Systems
While conventional mechanisms owe their deformability to the sliding or rolling interfaces in the joints, flexible mechanisms fulfill their function through elastic stretches in places that are deliberately designed to be flexible during design. This functional principle enables novel, shape-adaptive structures, which can be used, for example, in softrobotics or in variable-shape wings. The professorship focuses its research on optimization-based synthesis methods.

Strength of Gearing

Strength of Gearing
The strength tests focus on the tooth root load-bearing capacity of worm gear units. The challenge to numerical imaging lies in the complex geometry and the special material bronze.

Friction coefficients for force-locked Connections

Friction coefficients for force-locked Connections
The coefficient of static friction (also: coefficient of friction or coefficient of friction) is to be understood as a system variable with a multitude of influencing parameters. In order to use existing potentials in friction-locking connections (e.g. screw, flange, press-fit connections), an experimental investigation is indispensable. With the help of standardized test methods on model samples, a wide variety of tribological configurations are examined at the research centre with regard to their transmission behavior. A major field of research is the synthesis of new design/selection tools for friction-enhancing measures (e.g. micro/laser structures, hard particles, coatings) for static and dynamic load cases.

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