TU Chemnitz: Green and intelligent electroplating for aircraft components

On July 9, 2024, the LuFo project GIGA started with a successful kick-off meeting at Chemnitz University of Technology. The project aims to develop a green and intelligent electroplating process using modular, robot-based electroplating with inline process monitoring. This enables reliable and reproducible coating of relevant aircraft components in small and medium batch sizes. The project is supported and funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).

The complementary consortium consists of Scholz Mechanik GmbH, KleRo GmbH Roboterautomation, OTE Scheigenpflug GmbH, the Institute of Aircraft Production Technology (IFPT/TU Hamburg) and our professorship. In the project, the Chair of Materials and Surface Technology (WOT) at Chemnitz University of Technology is concentrating on the development of a robot-assisted electroplating system that covers the entire process chain for component coating. To this end, the existing system is being expanded and modernized with regard to larger process containers for coating individual parts and the use of racks. The degree of automation will be further increased in order to meet the quality requirements for aerospace components. This includes automatic bath maintenance and coating analysis. These improvements are crucial for the validation of new simulation models in order to gain an even better understanding of the relationships between process, microstructure and properties. The research aims to reduce resource consumption and scrap rates, minimize the amount of wastewater and contribute to a more environmentally friendly production of aircraft components. Initial discussions at the kick-off meeting revealed a broad spectrum of promising new ideas and potential applications.