8th Nano and Material Symposium Niedersachsen 2015 in cooperation with Salzgitter AG and Volkswagen AG

"Material and process innovations for resource-efficient mobility" - 140 experts visit Salzgitter, Germany in Lower Saxony to discuss perspectives in such areas as lightweight construction

In the course of the annual event organized by NMN e.V. more than 140 participants gathered in the Salzgitter AG guesthouse on November 25 and 26, 2015. The symposium's major theme was "resource-efficient mobility", with the core topics of "New materials", "Surfaces" and "Lightweight construction".  To gets things started, the attendees took an exclusive tour through the Salzgitter Flachstahl factory and the Volkswagen AG factory in Braunschweig.
 
Salzgitter Flachstahl and Volkswagen AG in Braunschweig teamed up in the symposium to present the primary topic "Material and process innovations for resource-efficient mobility".  
Ulrich Grethe, CEO Salzgitter Flachstahl, and Dr. Holger Manz, Battery Systems and Chassis Development Head at Volkswagen Braunschweig, opened the technical program on November 26. In their plenary speeches, they offered a comprehensive overview of "Steel - the material for today and tomorrow" (Ulrich Grethe) and "Lightweight construction technologies of the future - symbiosis of innovation and profitability" (Dr. Holger Manz). Roger Krüger, responsible for the automotive, aviation and lightweight construction areas in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics, Labor and Transport and representing Minister Lies, also emphasized the mobility industry's innovation and economic power in Lower Saxony in his talk, particularly praising the core topics "lightweight construction", "new materials" and "surfaces" incorporated in them. These also formed the focus of the NMN symposium, and were the topic of discussion in 20 technical presentations in 3 parallel sessions.

Two sessions also included presentations by the Salzgitter AG Group.
 
In the "New materials" session moderated by Dr. Frank Klose, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Jürgen Maier, Institut für Werkstoffkunde Leibnitz Universität Hannover, the presentations included one from Dr. Joachim Schöttler, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung, on "Hardening steels for highly stressed components in the newest vehicle series". Here he explained the characteristics and advantages of Salzgitter Flachstahl's air-hardened steels. The RobuSal^®800 and RobuSal^®900 grades are very formable in the soft delivery state and can be machined into highly complex components.   The steel can furthermore be conveniently and reliably welded and surface finished. Due to the sophisticated alloying concept, the RobuSal^® steels demonstrate a high-strength, martensitic microstructure after being air-hardened. As a finished component, they are therefore very solid and guarantee the greatest possible passenger protection when faced with high static and dynamic loads during normal use and in a crash, while simultaneously fulfilling requirements for lighter construction. RobuSal^® steels are consequently modern alternatives to high and ultra-high strength steels. Compared to both these materials and to aluminum and other light-metal alloys, components made of RobuSal^® steels offer considerably higher strengths. This allows substantial reductions in the plate thickness. RobuSal^® steels from Salzgitter Flachstahl therefore combine the current requirements on automotive materials with regard to both safety and lightweight construction potential. A life cycle analysis has furthermore shown that these steels demonstrate considerable advantages in environmental compatibility compared to an alternative aluminum die casting version.

In the "Surfaces" session led by Prof. Dr. Günter Bräuer, of the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST, and Dr. Thorsten Reier, active at Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH, one of the talks was presented by Dr. Martin Bretschneider, Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH, on "Innovative fine surface structures". His presentation focused on innovative surface structures, which face the most demanding requirements, particularly when deployed for interior and exterior body shell parts in the automobile industry. Sheet metal processors opt for thin sheet in processes such as shaping, bonding and painting. The sheet material's surface quality has a major influence on these processes. This surface quality is typically specified with 2D roughness characteristics, such as average roughness Ra and the peak count RPc. At Salzgitter Flachstahl, this defined surface structure is transferred to the sheet during the improved Pretex^® procedure by using textured working rolls. The working roll has a surface structure that is based on many stochastically distributed hard spherical calottes as texture elements that are deposited onto the work roll in a galvanic coating process. By varying the parameters in this coating process, the number and size of these calottes can also be varied.
Dr. Bretschneider demonstrated the diversity of this fine surface structure in an overview of possible surfaces and their associated characteristics. Trials with thin sheet with different surfaces show the influence on the processes at sheet metal processors. With the Pretex^®focar^® procedure, the fine surface structure can be optimized for the customers specifically for these uses.
 
The symposium is an annual event from Nano- und Materialinnovationen Niedersachsen (NMN) e. V. The objective is to advance the three main topics, "New materials", "Lightweight construction" and "Surfaces" along with their associated processing technologies. Additionally, the topics hold tremendous technological and economic potential for Lower Saxony's current leading-edge fields of the future, such as mobility and energy.