Two men are sitting at a desk in front of a car tail light. A screen shows the deformation of the rear light during the laser welding production step. Different colours highlight the areas that are severely deformed due to the stresses.

Designing with plastics

The "Designing with Plastics (KmK)" cluster pools expertise in the fields of lightweight construction, laser material processing, additive manufacturing and strength calculation and sees itself as a link between applied research and industrial development. Industry-relevant topics from the above-mentioned areas are dealt with on an interdisciplinary basis.

Focal points

The cluster specialises in the following areas:

  • Design (calculation, processing and simulation) with fibre-reinforced plastics
  • Failure analysis and fatigue strength of constructions made of plastics and metals
  • Laser transmission welding (process design and simulation, optical design) of plastics
  • Development of methods for in-situ process monitoring (pyrometry, optical coherence tomography)
  • Additive manufacturing of plastic components: Component design suitable for production and load, process benchmark, service life estimation
  • Computational strength analyses, fatigue strength, structural-mechanical simulation

An overview of the publications can be found on the homepages of the participating professors, which are listed under R&D projects, as well as on the publication server of OTH Regensburg:

Industry co-operations

There are many opportunities for co-operation with the professors and laboratories involved in the cluster,

e.g. within the framework of

  • publicly funded R&D projects,
  • contract research,
  • services,
  • workshops and training courses or
  • Bachelor's and Master's theses.

The cluster also cooperates with the following companies, among others, within the framework of publicly funded projects and projects directly financed by industrial companies:

  • Micro-Epsilon Messtechnik GmbH & Co.
  • AdlOptica Optical Systems GmbH
  • AIRBUS Helicopters Deutschland GmbH
  • BMW AG
  • Continental Automotive GmbH
  • Dehn SE
  • E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH
  • Evosys Laser GmbH
  • Gerresheimer Regensburg GmbH
  • iNDTact GmbH
  • INOTECH Plastics Technology GmbH
  • Krones AG
  • LPKF Laser & Electronics AG
  • Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH
  • Multec GmbH
  • Novanta Europe GmbH
  • Reinhausen Power Composites GmbH
  • Robert Bosch GmbH
  • Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co KG
  • SGL Carbon SE
  • Vitesco Technologies Group AG
  • Wethje Carbon Composites GmbH

Research topics

The cluster's research focuses on

  • Process development for the laser joining of plastic, metal and mixed composites
  • Characterisation of laser-welded joints
  • Highly dynamic online temperature monitoring during laser transmission welding of plastics
  • Design and calculation of beam paths for laser material processing
  • Clamping pressure control for laser transmission welding of plastics
  • Analysis and FEM calculation of the clamping pressure and temperature distribution during laser transmission welding
  • Thermo-fluid-mechanical FEM process simulation
  • Impact behaviour and impact protection of fibre-reinforced composites
  • 3D printing of fibre-reinforced plastics
  • Production and load-appropriate design of additively manufactured components, process benchmark
  • Laser-assisted fused layer modelling
  • Winding processes for thermoset and thermoplastic fibre composites
  • Production and processing of natural fibre-based fibre composites
  • Force application in highly stressed components made from fibre-reinforced plastics
  • Lifetime monitoring and real-time damage detection of fibre-reinforced plastics
  • Fatigue strength tests / service life assessment of additively manufactured materials

R&D projects

An overview of current and completed R&D projects can be found on the homepages of the participating professors:

Contact us

Cluster spokesperson: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Hierl (OTH Regensburg)

Deputy Cluster Spokesperson: Prof. Dr Jakub Rosenthal (OTH Amberg-Weiden)

Research assistants OTH Regensburg: Jakob Gebhardt; Frederik Maiwald; Research assistant OTH Amberg-Weiden: Dr Martin Matušů