The Department of Separating and Joining Manufacturing Processes (tff) is part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (FB 15) at the University of Kassel. The "cutting manufacturing processes" at tff include sawing, drilling and milling, the "joining manufacturing processes" include welding, bonding and (generative) laser cladding (LMD).

In cutting, the surface of the cutting edges, but also the cutting edge itself, is decisive for the quality of the cutting process and its efficiency. Therefore, cutting materials are coated at tff by processes such as CVD or by the use of laser implantation of micro- or nanoscale particles to minimize friction or increase hardness. Likewise, cutting edges are rounded in the submicrometer range to realize particularly efficient cutting processes.

In the field of welding of dissimilar and dissimilar metals, tff is working on optimizing the properties of the joints and their characterization. The property-determining parameters are nanoscale.

In bonding, tff considers a variety of material classes (e.g. metals, plastics, ceramics) as substrates. In addition to the physical, chemical and, in some cases, mechanical adhesion mechanisms acting on a nanoscale, which are influenced at tff by various methods (e.g. plasma polymerization, nano-laser structuring and deposition of usually monomolecular adhesion promoter layers), the modification and additivation of adhesives is also the focus of research activities. For example, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are used to strengthen adhesives and improve conductivity. Other, largely microscale fillers are functionalized to optimize bonding to the polymer matrix of the adhesive.

The main focus of CINSaT for tff is on the following two areas

• photonics and

• nanostructures in engineering sciences.