BAM Press release No 9/2007 of 2007/04/13
Material failure contributed to the sinking of the Ferry Estonia and the power failure in Münsterland. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) analysed these cases of damage.
Some of the high-voltage pylons, whose collapse triggered the power failure in Münsterland, were manufactured from Thomas steel, the 20th century mass steel product. Visitors can see parts of similar pylons in the exhibition booth: a demonstration of how the primary centre of damage can be discovered and how the cause of brittle failure can be analysed in the microstructure. How damage assessment helps improve standards and regulations and avoid damage in technical systems and economic losses in the long run is also explained.
High-tech plastic components are manufactured from high-strength glass or carbon fibres and liquid resin at temperatures between 100 °C and 200 °C in a chemical reaction. These components are increasingly being used in the aeroplane and aerospace industry as well as in car manufacture because of their high mechanical load carrying capacity and low weight. It is vital that these components are safe.
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) has developed an ultrasonic method which enables the monitoring and control of hardening processes on-line. The risk of inadequate hardening time, i.e. too short or too long, is avoided.
The ultrasonic method uses the change in the propagation speed of ultrasonic waves during hardening. The form injection process and consecutive resin hardening can also be monitored and displayed diagrammatically for complex components using software developed by BAM. This hardening process control is also demonstrated in BAM’s booth.
Hannover Messe
16th to 20th April 2007, Hannover
BAM’s booth: Hall 2, Booth A24
Contact: Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Lexow
Presidential Staff Office – Research Coordination, Marketing
Phone: +49 30 8104-1004
Email: presse@bam.de
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