New materials and production technologies for innovative lightweight constructions

Modern concepts for lightweight construction not only make necessary new and advanced materials but also the development of new production processes and new processing strategies is obligatory in order to be adapted successfully. This paper presents some present research topics of the Chair of Manufacturing Technology that are of interest for an innovative lightweight construction nowadays and in the future. These are laser-assisted bending and roll forming as an example for new production technologies and forming of aluminium tailored blanks or intrinsic aluminium blanks using a local heat treatment as an example for new processing strategies. Finally, the potentials for lightweight construction of a special class of materials, aluminium foams, are discussed.