First Joint Research Group between Max-Planck and Fraunhofer Society

The joint research initiative on »Computational Mechanics of Polycrystals (CMCn)« between the Max-Planck-Society and the Fraunhofer-Society pursues the idea to develop and enhance novel theoretical approaches for the field of mechanics of crystalline matter with the aim to promote its use for industrial applications such as encountered in the fields of aerospace, automotive, and medical engineering.

Most technically relevant metals are of polycrystalline nature, that is they are made up of a huge number of crystallites with sizes ranging from submicrometers to several millimeters. Since single crystals possess anisotropic mechanical properties, any non-random orientation distribution of the crystallites (so called crystallographic texture) usually results in anisotropic properties also for the polycrystalline material.

During the recent past significant progress has been seen in both the physical understanding and the continuum mechanical simulation of polycrystals. The research in this field is characterized by a close connection between fundamental metallurgical insights and technological applications. The field of crystal mechanics is highly interdisciplinary bringing together approaches from the metal physics of plastic deformation, phase transformation, and interface science; mathematics of non-linear partial differential equations; numerical mathematics; continuum mechanics; and forming and process technology.

The Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, as Germany’s most important organization for fundamental research, and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, as its application-oriented counterpart, in 2005 decided to establish this joint working group which started in spring 2006. The goals of this initiative are set along two parallel lines: (i) a deeper metallurgical understanding of mechanical twinning, deformation induced phase transitions and multi-phase microstructures, and (ii) the optimization and acceleration of existing simulation methods both in Taylor-based and self-consistent texture modeling as in Finite Element Method (FEM) based homogenization schemes.

Strategically, the initiative aims at a long term alliance between the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (MPIE, Düsseldorf) and the Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoffmechanik (IWM, Freiburg) to accelerate the knowledge transfer from fundamental sciences to applications. Besides the collaborative research goals, CMCⁿ therefore also aims to build up two tightly connected self-supporting working groups, one at each institute. Hence, the acquisition of third party funds is integral to the initiative.

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