LeiBat Consortium

The University of Siegen (USIEGEN) takes on several central roles as project coordinator. All work is carried out by the Chair of Lightweight Vehicle Construction (FLB). As one of the largest institutes in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the FLB makes significant contributions to both academic research and industrial application technology. The FLB's fields of research are as interdisciplinary as modern vehicles are complex.

The experimental capacities range from material characterization (steel, aluminium, FRP) under quasi-static and dynamic crash loads to numerous component test benches. These include a crash sled (up to 50 km/h) for complete car bodies, drop towers, fatigue strength test benches, climate and corrosion testing technology and a medium-frequency welding machine.

In addition, modern sheet metal forming systems with various heating systems enable both cold and hot forming. A furnace up to 1100 °C, a vacuum furnace, induction, infrared and plate heaters are available for the project. A high-pressure system (10 bar, hot water up to 180 °C) with rapid temperature change for water cooling is available for tool temperature control. Digital component measurement (CMM) is also available. This expertise is combined with virtual methods such as CAD and finite element simulations using advanced models and material cards.

In the role of coordinator, FLB is responsible for project management, including meeting coordination and ensuring the smooth running of the project. Thanks to experience with national and international research projects, the FLB has the necessary expertise for professional project management.

As a medium-sized, family-run company, ECKERLE stands for the highest quality and precision in the core areas of mold making, injection molding and industrial painting and guarantees excellent customer proximity thanks to a core of highly qualified employees and its central location in the heart of Bavaria. The extensive service portfolio covers the entire process chain from parts development and design to highly specialized mould and tool making, including prototyping, the assembly of complex components and surface finishing. With particular expertise in the areas of PMMA, textured and chrome surfaces in high gloss, film, fabric and aluminum back-injection of the production of injection molds up to 25,000kg in-house and various injection molding applications such as 2-component injection molding with a clamping force of up to 3.200 tons from mid-2026 as well as state-of-the-art testing technology, such as rheological tests and in-house optical 3D measuring technology and 3D coordinate measuring machines, ECKERLE ensures the highest functional standards for renowned TIER1 suppliers and OEMs in the automotive industry. At the Weissenburg site, this range is perfectly rounded off by high-quality industrial coatings for exterior and interior plastic parts in high-gloss, decorative or soft paint finishes, making ECKERLE a comprehensive partner for innovative and surface-finished component solutions.

EQ is an OEM and 1st tier supplier for thermal management systems for power electronics and batteries in BEVs, among other things. It processes both plastics and plastic-metal hybrids using special technologies developed in-house. In addition to the production of components, more complex products are also assembled. EQ has developed a new ^MDPB® technology for metal-plastic composites, which allows plastic to be joined with metals in a gas-tight and long-term stable manner. The strengths exceed those of the plastic matrix material. This technology eliminates the disadvantages of double-shell aluminum cold plates produced using various joining methods (roll seam welding, soldering, friction welding, etc.), such as uneven cooling, risks of leakage due to electrochemical corrosion, etc. This technology is used in this project and is being further developed for previously unknown applications. In addition, EQ has extensive software and experience in carrying out CFD and FEM simulations. These are used in the design of the entire system.

Grunewald is a family-run, medium-sized company that specializes in the development and production of individual and self-heated tools made from various metallic alloys. The range of services includes large-format tools for the production of carbon fiber components as well as injection molding tools and casting molds.

In the field of special machine construction, robot-supported production cells are developed for the efficient manufacture of products. The use of ultrasonic welding technology enables precise joining of plastics.

Grunewald also has extensive expertise in the low-pressure sand casting process and produces thin-walled structural castings with coordinated mechanical properties. Thanks to a high level of vertical integration, the engineering, mechanical processing and qualification of components is carried out in-house.

With innovative solutions and a strong team, Grunewald meets customer requirements and at the same time contributes to a sustainable industry.

Weber Fibertech GmbH is an SME. In addition to injection-molded components, it produces very large components such as tailgates for Smart and partition walls for the VW ID-Buzz using impact extrusion technology, partly with its own E-LFT patent. The impact extrusion process used is characterized by the greatest possible flexibility in the design of the components, very high lightweight construction potential and outstanding cost-effectiveness.

WF masters all process steps starting with the production of the LFT material from plastic granulate and glass or carbon fiber, the integration of local reinforcements made of metal or organic sheet metal, component pressing through to the assembly/installation of an assembly for the customer.

WF was and is involved in several funded research projects. For example, the BMBF-funded project "MultForm" and its successor "MultiPro", in which intrinsic steel-FRP composites can be produced using a new "hybrid pressing" process (see literature list [23,29]) with a cycle time of less than 60 seconds, are relevant to the LeiBat project applied for. These successful hybrid production techniques carried out jointly with FLB form the basis for the new project, among other things.

WF is currently aiming to develop and produce large components for the battery housing. WF has already taken part in several concept competitions organized by various OEMs. The proposed project would support this endeavor and is very valuable for WF.