HoverLight machine applications & advancement

Fraunhofer Institutes for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU and for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials Research IFAM’s composite material HoverLIGHT sets new standards for machine tool construction. By combining aluminum foam and particle-filled hollow spheres, HoverLIGHT achieves lightness, stiffness, and vibration damping. In a joint project with an industrial partner, the two institutes demonstrated HoverLIGHT can dampen vibrations in series machines by a factor of three along with 20% weight saving.

Lighter, more precise

HoverLIGHT is a composite of metal foam and hollow spheres and can serve as the core of sandwich structures. This sandwich principle results in a significant weight reduction, and the HoverLIGHT core guarantees high damping: the aluminum foam with the integrated hollow spheres significantly dampens vibrations more than previously used composite materials, leading to higher precision in machining and a longer machine lifetime. The sandwich construction also enables significant weight savings, allowing for higher dynamics in machining processes.

Successful application in practice

In a joint project with Chiron Group SE, HoverLIGHT has been working effectively in the crossbeam of a milling machine with results being:

• 20% weight reduction: HoverLIGHT crossbeam is significantly lighter than a comparable assembly made of conventional materials.
• Significantly higher damping: Vibration damping increases by a factor of 3, leading to higher precision and longer tool life.
• Increased productivity from higher speed and precision: Machines can produce more parts in less time when equipped with HoverLIGHT crossbeams.

“With HoverLIGHT, we’ve developed a material pushing the boundaries of what is possible in vibration damping. We solve the conflict of objectives that arises from the inherently contradictory requirements of a stiff design of modern machine tools, lightweight moving assemblies, and effective vibration damping,” says Dr.-Ing. Jörg Hohlfeld, responsible for the research area of metal foam at Fraunhofer IWU.

All moving components in machine tools, such as machine slides, are predestined for HoverLIGHT machine applications. However, numerous other applications are also conceivable outside mechanical engineering, wherever lightness, stiffness, and precision matter such as robotic arms; automotive crash structures; wall and floor elements for rail vehicles; servers and high-performance computers; and medical applications such as MRI or ultrasound devices.

The next goal: Attractive manufacturing costs

The researchers are continuously working to improve HoverLIGHT machine applications and expand its range of applications. The goal is adapting the properties of the composite material to the requirements of further applications and to reduce its manufacturing costs through industrialized processes. The production of hollow spheres is complex, energy-intensive, and not yet reproducible. A promising approach is to use metallic blisters that are simpler and less expensive to produce than hollow spheres. The Fraunhofer team is confident this should allow for significant cost reductions within a few years.

Fraunhofer IWU
https://www.iwu.fraunhofer.de

This article originally appeared in the April 2025 print issue as: “HoverLIGHT: Damping for machine tools.”