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Department of Ferrous Technology • Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. Bleck
The Department of Ferrous Technology of RWTH Aachen University focuses on the processing, the properties and the application of steels. The department`s research is organised in 4 scientific groups with in total more than 30 researchers. The “Advanced Simulation of Materials” Group headed by Dr. Ulrich Prahl focuses on the numerical modelling of microstructures and properties of steels. The objectives are to combine physical and phenomenological approaches, to evaluate modelling approaches, to describe processes by numerical means, and to predict microstructure and properties. The “Mechanics of Materials” Group headed by Dr. Münstermann investigates the structural integrity of steelmade components. This includes experimental and numerical characterization of strength and toughness as well as a quantitative prediction of component failure. The objectives of this group are to develop new methods to quantify load bearing capacities of components, to foster more economic design, and to develop modern safety concepts. The groups “Processing of Materials” and “Characterization of Materials” are closely related to industrial needs. Beside extensive experimental work, numerical approaches for the description of new materials and of new processes are evaluated with respect to engineering problems.
Some examples for research topics related to modelling are:
- Modelling of microstructure evolution in steel
- Representative volume elements for multiphase microstructures
- Description of kinetics and resulting microstructures of phase transformations
- Numerical modelling of toughness properties of steels by means of damage mechanics
- Development of failure criteria for application in industrial components and processes
- Development of multi scale modelling approaches to quantify the load bearing capacity of components from microstructural parameters.
Some examples for funding organisations and research projects related to modelling are:
- DFG: SFB 761 “Steel ab initio – quantum mechanics based design of new iron alloys”
- DFG: TFB 63 “Prediction of the mechanical properties of multilayer welds”
- DFG. SPP1204 “Fast algorithms for process chain description”
- DFG: “Correlation of microstructure and damage behaviour for TRIP steels”
- NIMR: “Numerical description of the strain hardening behaviour of dual phase steels”
- NIMR: “FEM modelling of the delayed cracking phenomenon”
- FOSTA: “Application of damage curves for safe design of pressure vessels”.