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Fußballroboter im Tor © Nikolas Golsch​/​TU Dortmund
Damage-controlled Forming Processes

DFG Extends Transregio of TU Dortmund University and RWTH Aachen University

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Group photo on a roof terrace © TRR 188
The scientists of TRR 188 are continuing their research on material damage during forming processes.
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has announced on Monday, 25 November, that it will extend the Collaborative Research Center/Transregio “Damage-controlled forming processes” (TRR 188) for another four years. The Department of Mechanical Engineering at TU Dortmund University is thus continuing its successful cooperation with RWTH Aachen University. From 2025 to 2028, the DFG will provide the scientists with funding of around ten million euros in order to expand the research results from the first eight years to include new phenomena and to transfer them to additional forming processes and materials.

Forming processes can be used to efficiently manufacture complex and customized components. However, during forming, the material also suffers microscopic damage. Since 2017, TRR 188 has provided important findings on the deformation-induced material damage of metallic components. The interdisciplinary consortium is focusing on identifying damage mechanisms, controlling them during forming and predicting their effects on the performance of the final components. This novel approach makes it possible to consider the actual manufacturing-induced product properties, including damage, when designing products and their forming processes.

The result is a new generation of lightweight products with customized and guaranteed performance. Prof. Yannis P. Korkolis from the Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Components (IUL) and designated third spokesperson of the TRR 188 explains: “For the final result of the three funding periods we are aiming for a paradigm shift in the design of components: by enabling manufacturers to adapt the deformation-induced damage in order to achieve the desired behavior during operation while conserving material and energy resources.”

Portrait Yannis Korkolis © IUL​/​TU Dortmund
Designated spokesperson for the third funding period of TRR 188, Prof. Yannis P. Korkolis from the IUL.

Transfer into industrial application

This will also be shown using specific demonstrator components. In the second funding period, TRR 188 initiated three industrial transfer projects which are ensuring an early transfer of knowledge into industrial applications. The DFG has approved a fourth project for the third funding period. The transfer projects as well as the increasing number of inquiries from the industry underscore the industrial relevance of the research results achieved so far.

During the first two funding periods, the members of TRR 188 have already been able to demonstrate for many typical sheet metal and bulk metal forming processes that it is possible to influence and actively control damage through process modifications. In the third funding period, the researchers will include further previously undiscovered damage phenomena in their 23 research projects. In addition to analyzing new and more complex processes, they are extending their findings on typical steels to other materials such as aluminum and the industry-relevant press-hardening steel 22MnB5. For the first time, steels with self-designed, damage-resistant microstructures are also being produced to demonstrate their damage tolerance in further processing and in service.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

TRR 188 is composed of an interdisciplinary consortium of forming technology, materials science, materials testing and mechanics. Prof. Yannis P. Korkolis from the Institute of Forming Technology and Lightweight Components (IUL, TU Dortmund University) will act as the spokesperson for the third funding period. Prof. Sebastian Münstermann (IBF, RWTH Aachen University) will be the vice spokesperson. At TU Dortmund University, the Institute of Applied Mechanics (IM) and the Department of Materials Testing (WPT) will be continuing their research alongside IUL in TRR 188. The Chair of Reliability Engineering (CRE) will join as a new member.

The Institute for Applied Materials at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will also continue its work with the collaborative research center. As in the second funding period, the two Mercator professors Prof. Kaan Inal (University of Waterloo, Canada) and Prof. Reinhard Pippan (Austrian Academy of Sciences) will continue to support TRR 188 as well. In addition to numerous Alexander von Humboldt Fellows, several international doctoral students have already come to Dortmund through TRR 188 for research stays. 

Further information

Lecture series on damage for teaching and tranining purposes

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