Research

Our new annual report has been published and looks back on an eventful and highly successful year at the Chair of Engineering Design (KTmfk). The sixth edition takes you through a year filled with key personnel milestones, scientific achievements, and international presence. A particularly defin...

In modern lightweight design, mechanical joining processes such as clinching are becoming increasingly common. However, variations in tooling, process parameters, and material properties can cause significant deviations in clinch joint properties. In a joint study, the Chair of Engineering Design (...

In order to capture human body movements precisely, with minimal interference and in a non-invasive manner, the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1483 EmpkinS (Empathokinaesthetic Sensor Technology) investigates novel sensor technologies and data-driven methods. The institute of Engine...

With increasing life expectancy and growing interest in physical activities, the number of bone injuries and fractures is steadily rising. For successful healing, implants are used to ensure stable fixation of the bone. These so-called osteosynthesis products must exhibit high mechanical stability,...

Launch of the DFG-funded project on the automated conversion of aesthetically and technically functional design geometries from topology optimization results in November 2025. Topology optimization is an established method in lightweight design that enables the systematic determination of mechan...

Computer-Aided Tolerancing software has become the standard for statistically analyzing the effects of geometrical part variations on product quality. The consideration of physical product behavior requires the solution of differential equations, conducted numerically using Finite Element Analysis ...

As a consequence of the development of energy-efficient and sustainable technical products, reducing friction losses and preventing wear in lubricated contacts of machine elements has become extremely important. Oil is often used as a lubricant to separate the contact surfaces in these tribological...

In the now completed research project “LightConstruct,” a methodology for multi-material topology optimization (MMTO) was developed at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg in collaboration with partners PH-Mechanik GmbH & Co. KG and Wilhelm-Plastic GmbH & Co. KG. The goal was t...

Conventional tolerance management aims to limit variations of components to a degree that guarantees the function of the product. Frequently, aspects such as manufacturability, assemblability, and influences of operation are not taken into account. As a result, variations that lead to assembly prob...

The consideration of variations and their functional restriction during the design of a product is an important task of tolerance management. Endless-fiber reinforced plastics (FRP), which are increasingly used due to their high lightweight potential, increase the complexity of this task due to the...