High frequency resonance pulsator

• Subject Area: Materials Engineering
• Term: Funded in 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 439896637

Research at the Steel Institute and the Institute for Material Applications in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University deals with metallic and ceramic materials with a focus on their mechanical properties. The main objective is the development, optimization and adaptation of materials. As a result of a new assignment, the Steel Institute is expanding its previous research activities in the field of cyclic properties. All research groups involved in the proposal have many years of experience in the field of fatigue testing. However, the work carried out so far has been limited to the field of cyclic material properties in the low cycle and high cycle fatigue regime. The limitation is due to the testing machines that are currently available in the groups, which can only be used up to a maximum test frequency of ~200 Hz. However, very high number of cycles are unrealistic due to the low frequencies and the resulting long test times.Since the research activities of the applicants will be extended towards the very high cycle fatigue regime, a new laboratory will be dedicated to this research. The staring of the new laboratory will be the proposed 1000 Hz high-frequency resonance pulsator, whose unique combination of high test-frequency and high load-amplitude far surpasses all the equipment previously available in the research groups. In addition, the laboratory will be expanded to include an ultrasonic testing machine and a small-scale resonance testing system for crack-propagation analyses. The three machines form the first stage of the fatigue laboratory and will enable ongoing and proposed research activities within the groups as well as greatly expand the testing possibilities in the field of fatigue testing. The creation of the new laboratory will further strengthen and expand the cooperation between the applicant research groups and other cooperation partners. Already, coordinated collaborative research programs have been established between the participating partners in direct relation to the fatigue testing facilities.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Hochfrequenz-Resonanzpulsator
• Instrumentation Group: 2910 Dynamische Prüfmaschinen und -anlagen, Pulser
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Leader: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Krupp