The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the Transregio TRR 188 “Damage-controlled forming processes” for another 4 years

Since 2017, the TRR 188 has been working at the TU Dortmund University, the RWTH Aachen University, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to gain a deeper understanding of forming induced damage processes. The aim is to predict damage quantitatively and influence it, for example, by changing the load path. In the third funding period, the investigations will focus on the healing of pores, the expansion of the forming processes to include methods such as hot forming and internal high-pressure forming, and the analysis of new materials, including aluminum alloys and press-hardened steels.

At the IAM-MMI, the third funding period of project B03 will focus on the quantitative analysis of damage mechanisms at the microstructure level. One focus is the validation of representative volume elements (RVEs) for DP800 and the development of novel techniques for 3D characterization and 3D parameter identification for modeling, while in particular aluminum alloys will be investigated. By changing from DP800 to aluminum alloys, B03 contributes to the generalization of the findings from the first and second funding periods to new material classes, to 3D characterization, to the identification and quantification of uncertainties in damage formation, and to the investigation of the influence of pore closure on damage reduction.

Funding for the third funding period totals 10.7 million euros.

Further information on TRR 188 can be found at https://trr188.de/index.php/en/