The interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Center 136 "Function-Oriented Manufacturing Based on Characteristic Process Signatures" - in short: Process Signatures - is located at the Universities of Bremen, Aachen and Stillwater (USA). It has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since April 2014, until the end of 2022.

More than 40 engineers, mathematicians and natural scientists have set themselves the goal of developing and concretizing the concept of so-called process signatures and thus introducing a paradigm shift in materials-oriented manufacturing.

The spokesperson of the SFB is Professor Bernhard Karpuschewski, and the spokesperson university is the University of Bremen. Deputy spokesperson is Professor Stefanie Reese, RWTH Aachen University.

The growing demand for optimized components, for example in the automotive industry or medical technology, requires the development of new types of analysis methods relating to the connection between manufacturing processes and materials. The concept of so-called Process Signatures is an innovative engineering and scientific approach that summarizes all interactions between material and process. This new way of looking at and describing materials should make it possible to process them in an even more targeted manner in order to use them optimally for the respective desired requirements. Because: Properties of the so-called edge zone, such as residual stress and hardness, have so far been difficult to adjust specifically in production. Process Signatures, on the other hand, enable function-oriented manufacturing (see Fig. 1). In addition to time and cost savings in development and production, the quality and service life of components can be increased.

More detailed explanations of the technical terms are provided in our constantly growing glossary.