Inherent Load Measurement and Component Identification by multi-dimensional Coded Data in the Component's Subsurface Region

AbstractIn industrial production, the absence of component markings and unrecognized component failure can result in a lack of protection against product piracy and malfunctions of machinery and installations. A technique for storing data inherently in the subsurface region of the component was developed. Inherently stored data is highly resistant to external stresses and inseparably linked to the component. To evaluate the integrity of highly stressed components, material inherent sensors are induced in the subsurface region of the component to store the loading history. These techniques offer the potential for securely identifying and evaluating the status of components, and thus reducing failure costs

Technical Inheritance: A Concept to Adapt the Evolution of Nature to Product Engineering

Nowadays the technological progress of technical products occurs according to the laws of natural selection: new technologies are replacing old ones, winners of the competition are those products that best meet the expectations of society and the requirements of the market. Therefore, using, adapting and modeling of the basic laws of the theory of biological evolution in order to study the evolutionary processes in technical systems are already many years a popular area of research. Modern technical solutions combine the ability to store and transmit information on their technical specifications and accumulated changes from generation to generation. The main research area of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 653 “Gentelligent Components in Their Lifecycle” is the innovative development of smart products in which the genetic and intellectual dimensions are a combination that enables to use the accumulated product life cycle information for the development of subsequent generations adapted to their environment. One of the central questions of the evolution of technical products is how to consider inheritance and the transfer of information. Based on evolutionary mechanisms the definition of technical inheritance as a transfer of assembled and verified information from production and application to the next product generation has been composed. The authors employed the analysis of existing evolutionary theories in biology, evolutionary laws of technical systems and their adaptation as well as the redefining of gentelligent smart products

Influence of Cobalt on the Properties of Load-Sensitive Magnesium Alloys

In this study, magnesium is alloyed with varying amounts of the ferromagnetic alloying element cobalt in order to obtain lightweight load-sensitive materials with sensory properties which allow an online-monitoring of mechanical forces applied to components made from Mg-Co alloys. An optimized casting process with the use of extruded Mg-Co powder rods is utilized which enables the production of magnetic magnesium alloys with a reproducible Co concentration. The efficiency of the casting process is confirmed by SEM analyses. Microstructures and Co-rich precipitations of various Mg-Co alloys are investigated by means of EDS and XRD analyses. The Mg-Co alloys’ mechanical strengths are determined by tensile tests. Magnetic properties of the Mg-Co sensor alloys depending on the cobalt content and the acting mechanical load are measured utilizing the harmonic analysis of eddy-current signals. Within the scope of this work, the influence of the element cobalt on magnesium is investigated in detail and an optimal cobalt concentration is defined based on the performed examinations