Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPTResearch project "Stokes"
Economic losings caused by wear and friction are still tremendous, just in Germany the losings are amounted to 100 bn € p.a., for Europe the losses exceed 400 bn €. Recent investigations have shown that laser manufactured structures can exert considerable influence on the tribological behaviour of surfaces. Besides hydrodynamic effects, which can improve friction, the ability of the structures to store lubricant lead to the maintenance of a lubrication film. As the state of the art techniques for laser surface structuring, particularly for tribological applications are mainly on an a R&D level, the production technology is in need of adequate manufacturing techniques. Main topics in this field of research are the inevitable pre- and post-treatment steps of current laser surface structuring techniques as well as the high process durations. The overall goal of this project is to solve both of those tasks by the development and realisation of a process technology, which enables the process chain integrated laser surface structuring of hydraulic parts.
The project aims to cover a defined segment of a growing market and the technological achievements will offer the participating SMEs promising options of upgrading their product values. In addition to the direct improvement of single systems by the investigations on demonstration parts within the project, the high transferability of the technique to further products will enable the value enhancement of whole product classes. This offers the possibility of a strong enhancement of the total product output. A consortium has been established, which covers the laser supply and technique as well as the surface preparation technology. Manufacturers of hydraulic parts are members of the consortium in order to close the technological range. Two powerful RTD performers could be gained, which are specialised on the laser processing on the one hand and on tribology on the other hand.
Funding organization
European Commission
Project coordination
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT
Project Partners
- Centro Tecnológico Tekniker
- EdgeWave GmbH
- Helltec GmbH
- Hesper SA
- Juntas Besma SA
- LaserAge Consultants
- SNC Promex AS
Publications
Laser Technik Journal, Volume 9, Issue 5, pages 31–35, November 2012