Distortion Engineering -Verzugsbeherrschung in der Fertigung

Until recently, the hardening process was considered as being the responsible process for causing the distortion of workpieces, the quenching operation in particular. Today it is well known, that the hardening process only releases the distortion potential which is accumulated in the workpiece along a series of operations building the overall manufacturing process. However, so far no systematic approach has been initiated to investigate and specify both, the overall as well as the individual influence of each operation on the geometry, the segregation distribution, the microstructure distribution and the residual stress distribution of a workpiece. In the beginning of 2001 the Collaborative Research Centre Distortion Engineering (SFB 570) was newly established at the University of Bremen by the German Science Foundation. This paper presents the basic approaches and the structure of this long time project.