Schaeffler FAG Foundation honours work by young researchers

Schaeffler FAG Foundation supports doctoral and master theses

Focus on developments and optimizations in the field of bearing technology

High application relevance for Schaeffler products and solutions

The Schaeffler FAG Foundation has once again honoured outstanding theses by students and doctoral candidates with the Innovation Award. The focus of the award is the promotion of works that demonstrate approaches and methods for further development and optimization in the field of bearing technology. Four dissertations and two master theses from the year 2023 were selected and the foundation awarded a prize money of 19,000 euros in total.

"Once again, we were very impressed by the level of work submitted," said Markus Gambihler, Head of Human Resources at Schaeffler Bearings Industrial Solutions and Chairman of the Foundation's Executive Board. At the celebration in Schweinfurt, Gambihler emphasized in particular the commitment of the young researchers to a better future. According to Gambihler, the concepts and methods developed also showed that the prize winners had intensively dealt with the challenges in industrial companies.

Sascha Zaps, Member of the Management Board of Bearings and Industrial Solutions since May 2024, underlined in his keynote speech the contribution of Schaeffler rolling bearing technology to sustainability. One focus is the development of even lower friction bearings. They help customers and end users to reduce CO2 emissions in operation. We do not only consider engineering and production. We are looking at the entire life cycle, including the use phase," Sascha Zaps explained. Innovation is an essential factor that can set Schaeffler apart from other companies – especially in global competition, says Sascha Zaps.

Awards in the category doctoral theses

Dr. Tim Weikert (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, currently a member of Schaeffler's Application Technology Railway) won the first prize in the Promotion category for his work entitled "Modifications of amorphous carbon layers to adapt friction conditions and increase wear protection". Weikert investigated how friction and wear of special carbon layers can be improved by a specific application. The aim is to make material layers more resistant and to make their wear detectable at an early stage by means of electrical signals. Examples of applications are complex sheet metal forming tools such as those used extensively at Schaeffler.

The second place in the doctoral category was shared by three scientists: Dr. Heike Sonnenberg ("On the elastic-plastic deformation behavior of metallic microspheres under pressure load" at the University of Bremen), Dr. Jonas Heinzel ("Identifying thermal process boundaries during grinding" also University of Bremen, now production technologist "Chipping" at Schaeffler) and Dr. Simon Merz ("Analysis of kinematics and kinetics of planetary rolling gears (PWG)" at the wbk Institute for Production Technology of KIT Karlsruhe, specialist in product development at Schaeffler).

Award in the category Bachelor's and Master's theses

Wilhelm Michel (Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Laboratory for Fluid Mechanics, today Engineer for Methods and Tool Development at Schaeffler) received the first prize in the category of Bachelor and Master theses for his master thesis entitled "Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Process for the Consideration of Non-Gaussian Roughness Distributions for the Calculation of Rolling Bearings". Wilhelm Michel developed an improved model for friction calculation in bearings that takes into account real roughness profiles more accurately. Together with a new method for converting surface characteristics, manufacturing processes can be optimized more specifically and bearings can be designed more efficiently and sustainably.

Sebastian Gielinger (Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering) received the second prize for his master's thesis entitled "Investigation of an inline test method for distinguishing cylindrical surfaces by means of deflectometry".

The Schaeffler FAG Foundation

The foundation has set itself the task of promoting knowledge development, knowledge transfer and the development of potential. This reflects the corporate and social responsibility deeply rooted in the company. Since its foundation in 1983, the foundation has provided more than 1.3 million euros in funding.

In addition to awarding the Innovation Award, the foundation is also involved with a school funding line and the Future Technology Award 2024. Until 31. July is the application phase for the Future Technology Award, which supports highly innovative research projects with up to 100,000 euros. The application phase for the next Innovation Award is also running until then. Interested parties can find more information about the foundation and all funding lines here.