Shortly after the Easter holidays, the members of the professorship took advantage of the continuing beautiful weather for the annual hiking day. The start was in Radebeul. From there we took the Lößnitzgrundbahn, an ancient steam train, to Moritzburg. After a short rest and visit of the castle we hiked back to Radebeul. In addition to many enjoyable personal conversations, the technical discussions did not come too short.

We are looking forward to the immediate participation of Mrs. Kirmse and Mr. Friedrich in the research and teaching tasks at the MP professorship. In a DFG research project, Ms. Kirmse is focusing on compliant systems, continuing the topic of her master’s thesis in basic research-oriented studies. Mr. Friedrich complements the expanding research group „Plain Bearings“ and will investigate on the influences of combined axial and radial bearings.

We wish the two newcomers all the best in their work at the Institute.

For the beginning of the 2019 summer semester, we wish all students a good start into the semester, curiosity for knowledge, fun at learning and endurance. Don’t lose the focus on why you are studying mechanical engineering. But also enjoy student life and the freedom of studying to the full.

We wish you every success!

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 behaviour under the most varied operating conditions (particles, mixed friction, hydrodynamics).

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 behaviour under individual loads (bending, torsion) as well as combined dynamic loads is analysed.

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

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.

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.

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.