Lightweight Design (Leichtbau)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Kröger

Institut für Maschinenelemente, Konstruktion und Fertigung
Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg

Aim of Lecture
Lightweight design is a design principle to reduce weight. This principle is a very actual topic
but has also a long history.
In the introduction (Chapter 1) historical examples are used to clarify the aims of lightweight
design. Chapter 2 discusses the characteristic values to quantify the lightweight design.
Often the lightweight design focuses only on lightweight materials, which are discussed in
Chapter 3, especially fibre reinforced composites. Chapter 4 looks on design principles
(Leichtbauprinzipien) to realise a lightweight design (LWD): Concept-LWD, Force-LWD,
Shape-LWD, Material- and Manufacturing-LWD. Important examples for lightweight design
are discussed in Chapter 5 focussing on the suspension (springs and damper) as well as on
crash structures. Finally, in Chapter 6 development trends are discussed.

Gliederung (Outline)
1. Einleitung: Geschichte und Zielsetzung des Leichtbaus
2. Wirkungen und Kenngrößen des Leichtbaus
3. Leichtbauwerkstoffe
3.1 Metallische Werkstoffe
3.2 Faserverbundwerkstoffe
4. Leichtbau-Prinzipien
4.1 Konzept-Leichtbau
4.2 Kraft-Leichtbau
4.3 Form-Leichtbau
4.4 Stoff- und Fertigungsleichtbau
5. Beispiele für den Leichtbau
5.1 Federung und Dämpfung von Fahrwerken
5.2 Deformationsstrukturen zur Crashenergieabsorption
6. Entwicklungstendenzen des Leichtbaus
1. Introduction: History and aim of lightweight design
Historically the lightweight design has a very high priority, because:

• the access to all resources (material, energy…) were very limited,

• materials (stones, wooden beams) for buildings and tools etc. were manually
produced,
• transport over long distances was difficult by horse or by hand (limited load, limited
speed, poor roads),
• the use of tools or arms occur manually. Therefore, they have to be lightweight
designed for useful handling (bow, shaft, spear)
Historical examples:

Egypt:

The famous pyramids and temples are not

lightweight designed and, therefore, they
show the force of the pharaoh. But for the
transport of the large stone bricks and the
pylons or statues lightweight concepts were
essential.
A nice example of lightweight design is the
chariot of Tutankhamun (14th century before
Christ)

Chariot of Tutankhamun [Kröger]

Babylon:

In Babylon the law of Hamurabi (1792-1750 before Christ) was proclaimed: If an owner of
a building was killed due to a collapse of the building a death penalty for the builder was
declared. For partial collapse rebuild had to be done. The law shows that instead of
efficient lightweight design a critical weakening (Abmagerung) had frequently happened.

Rome:

Vitruv (24 before Christ) wrote the first book

for design (buildings, water channels and
tubes, pumps, mills, cranes and arms). The
arms of roman legionnaires showed high
technical level of metal production
(wearable armour and helmets). A special
example is the development of metal nails
in shoes of legionnaires which enables
lightweight shoes with small wear. They
enable long walking distances per day.
Aqueduct of Nimes [Kröger]
Middle Ages:

The design of churches

changed from Romanic (wide
pillars, small windows) to Gothic
(slim pillars, large windows) e.g.
Dome of Freiberg (1484-1501).

Inside the Dome there is

another nice example of
lightweight design, the
Tulpenkanzel (1505-1510).

Gothic Dome of Freiberg Tulpenkanzel in Dome of

Freiberg [Kröger]
17th to 19th century and
Industrial Revolution:

Advances in metal forming with

forging hammers made it
possible to build large metal
wheel axels, bridges and
ploughs (Pflug). An excellent
example is the water spoon
hammer for metal forming
developed in China (already 13th
century).

Complex machines especially

for mining had been developed,
like the wind powered water
pump of Leibniz (1646-1716) Wind powered pumps of Leibniz [Kröger]

About 20th Century:

Advanced lightweight design is

essential for the flying function.
The flying machine of Lilienthal
is built by wood and cotton
(1894). Its weight was only
20 kg and has a wing area of
13 m2.

In the aerospace the importance

of lightweight design is much
higher. The cost of a transport of
1 kg into space is about
25000 €.

Flying machine of Lilienthal [Kröger]

 Simultaneous to the aircraft the
automobile development had
happened like the ‘Velo’ of
Benz. The lightweight design of
automobiles reduced the energy
consumption and increased the
carrying load especially of
trucks.

All other engineering areas take

part of lightweight design till
today.

Benz “Velo”: Build 1898/99,

mass 300 kg, power 3 PS [Kröger]

The history gives examples showing advantages of the lightweight design.

The aims (Ziele) of lightweight design are:

• increase of properties (Nutzungseigenschaften), e.g. of a hand drill,

• decrease of energy consumption (Energieverbrauch), e.g. of cars,
• reduce of resource consumption (Ressourceneffizienz), e.g. of machines or buildings,
• marketing argument (Verkaufsargument), e.g. of vacuum cleaner, car, truck.
The risk of lightweight design is a material reduction on the wrong place resulting in cracks,
accidents, high repair costs and a loss of image of company.
The lightweight design is always in conflict with other aims, like safety, crashworthiness,
optical design, comfort, corrosion etc.
Exercises:
a) Why a tent should be lightweight designed?
b) Explain the reasons for lightweight design of a pedelec!
c) What are the reasons that cars today are much heavier than cars 50 or 100 years
ago?