Lightweight design is undergoing change

Excerpt

We are experiencing exciting times for lightweight design — or perhaps even the beginning of a whole new era? The Federal Government quite rightly regards lightweight design as a key technology for ensuring Germany’s industrial future. The aviation sector has been demonstrating for many years how the moving mass of high-tech structures can be reduced without sacrificing safety or cost-efficiency. Owing to emissions legislation and the approaching age of electromobility, a further, powerful driver of lightweight design technology has made its presence known in recent years: automotive engineering. And it raises a question that sounds so simple and yet so multi-faceted: how can we establish lightweight design in large-scale production? The question is no longer limited to the task of lowering the weight of our cars. In reality, it is more concerned with the task of achieving the optimum relationship between low weight and at the same time inexpensive and environmentally friendly production — while establishing a cycle of materials that works. These questions are of great interest across a number of industries, since mechanical engineering, railways, shipbuilding and wind energy are crying out for lightweight, affordable and environmentally compatible structures. …