Advanced Hybrid Mechatronic Materials for ultra precise and high performance machining systems design
The machinery field is traditionally a sector poor in term of structural material solutions, but where machine performances are increasing so sharply that new materials are urgently required. Getting more intelligent and integrated structural solutions is essential to really introduce enormous benefits in machine tool design and development. The future technological challenge will be the availability of a new class of smart composite materials whose elasto-dynamic response can be adapted in real time in order to significantly enhance the performance of structural and mechanical systems like machine tools under a wide range of operating conditions. The project “Advanced Hybrid Mechatronic Materials for ultra precise and high performance machining systems design” (HYMM) is trying to answer these issues.
Projects ULMAT and VINO have been completed about 1 year ago. Some machine prototypes made with lightweight structures exist and are being tested in-house by the machine tool builders, who are performing long run test for geometrical stability and reliability assessment. The first results look encouraging. If the final results are good, the industrialisation should start. Anyway results have not yet been transferred to the market.
We assume the situation with PRIMA is the same, but further information should be requested to the coordinator (the research center IDEKO).
It is a very interesting project. I don't research materials but use materials for manufacturing machines. I wonder if Advanced Hybrid Mechatronic Materials have some intelligent characteristics? If they have,what are the intelligent characteristics?
There are several kinds of intelligent characteristics:
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for the implementation of passive solution for the reduction of vibrations we will exploit the light weight and high stiffness of some composite materials;
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for the implementation of active solutions for the reduction of vibrations we will make use of piezo-electric actuators or dampers based on magnetorheological fluids to damp vibrations;
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and solutions to thermal deformations will use sensors based on fiber gratings to measure machine deformations.
Are you aware if the conclusions and findings of the recently finished EU projects such as ULMAT, VINO and PRIMA have been transfered by machine tools builders in Europe into the development of new machining systems?