Production engineering
All measures and facilities for the industrial production of goods are summarized under production technology . Development and construction of goods precede production. Production technology is preferably divided into the following three main groups:
Auxiliary technologies are conveyor technology , handling technology and the like. a.
Another division is:
- Extraction and processing technology for raw material extraction and production (e.g. extraction of ores, coal, crude oil and gas, stone, wood, cotton.),
- Process engineering for material conversion,
- Manufacturing technology for shaping.
history
Production technology as a branch of modern engineering emerged during the industrial revolution in the 18th century. However, their forerunners are much older and go back to the earliest humans. In the Stone Age , simple hand axes were used to work with wood or animal material. Later the stone tools became finer and more differentiated. Axes, scrapers, needles, harpoons, knives, sickles, spears and arrowheads were built.
With the discovery of copper , gold and silver , corresponding manufacturing processes were also developed: forging and casting . By alloying tin to copper, bronze was created, which heralded the Bronze Age . It has a lower melting point than pure copper and is therefore easier to cast and is at the same time stronger and harder.
Around 1500 BC Iron was discovered by the Hittites . In contrast to the previously known metals , it does not occur in its pure form, but has to be melted from ores . It gradually supplanted bronze, which is why the new era is also known as the Iron Age . In ancient Greece, however, bronze was still used for weapons, armor and tools for a long time. Iron was also the first metal that could only be worked on when hot. Corresponding furnaces that were fired with coal were therefore required for heating, pliers to hold on to and iron tools such as hammers and anvils for processing. The racing furnaces known in antiquity could not yet melt the iron because the temperature generated was too low. Bronze casts are therefore used for works of art such as statues. In ancient times, fire welding , riveting , soldering and filing were known. In addition, the first Greek and Roman watermills and göpels have already been built.
- middle Ages
In the Middle Ages , windmills and water mills expanded. In 13th century England, for example, there should have been around 5,000. They were used to grind grain but also to drive large forging hammers, which made it possible to process larger and larger forgings. The properties of iron could also be specifically influenced by tempering , carburizing and annealing . The available blast furnaces now reached the temperatures required to cast iron , which was mainly used for the production of bells. Wire was now drawn and no longer forged, and locksmiths were the first to use vices .
- Renaissance
During the Renaissance , Leonardo da Vinci developed and built a large number of machines, some of which were even partially automated. These include a file-cutting machine, several drills and cylinder grinding machines. Cannons were first cast from bronze over a core and then drilled out . For this purpose, vertical or horizontal drilling machines were developed. It also emerged the first rolling machines for rolling of lead and later for copper. It was only shortly after 1700 that iron could be rolled. Around the same time it was also possible to drill iron cannon barrels from solid, the machines used for this only had to be modified slightly in 1712 in order to drill out the steam boilers of the first piston steam engines by Thomas Newcomen and, from 1775, the improved ones by James Watt .
- Industrial revolution
From the industrial revolution around 1750, the entire production technology developed much more rapidly. The previously common charcoal was replaced by hard coal , with the puddling process there was a new and more economical production method for steel which spread quickly and displaced wood more and more. It was used together with cast iron to build steam engines, textile machines (spinning, weaving), machine tools , steam locomotives and rails . Due to the great demand for the same, standardized parts in these industries, mass production came about for the first time . From 1740 there was an elaborate process for the production of cast steel , which was replaced in the 19th century by the more economical Bessemer process and finally the Siemens-Martin process . Iron materials could also be reliably machined with the machines now available . From around 1900 they were precise enough to produce fits . This made it possible to manufacture automobiles on an assembly line, which significantly reduced unit costs. Chemistry and process engineering also made great strides in the 19th century . Important chemical raw materials such as sulfuric acid and ammonia and soda could be produced industrially. It was used to produce tar dyes and bleaching agents for the textile industry as well as varnishes , medicines and fertilizers .
From 1900 it was possible to build steam turbines that are much more efficient than piston steam engines. Together with the new generators , it was now possible to generate electrical energy in power plants and make it available over long distances with almost no loss. The new form of energy was initially used for lighting, but soon afterwards it was also used to drive trams and machines using electric motors . With crude oil , a new energy source was also available, which was used in internal combustion engines such as the Otto engine or the diesel engine . They are particularly popular with vehicles. Electricity also led to the new field of electrochemistry . With it, aluminum could be produced industrially in large quantities and used as a new material. In addition, the first plastics and synthetic fibers were developed. From around 1950, nuclear energy was added as a further energy source.
- 20th century
Throughout the 20th century, cutting materials such as high-speed steel , tungsten carbide and diamond were continuously improved and made it possible to machine increasingly hard materials. From around 1980 on it was also possible to machine hardened steel. From the middle of the century, turning, milling, drilling and grinding machines became more and more automated and flexible thanks to the CNC control . They were supplemented by industrial robots , especially in assembly . At the beginning of the century, many new welding processes were developed, such as manual arc welding , gas-shielded metal arc welding (MSG) or tungsten inert gas welding (TIG welding), which replaced riveting as the preferred joining process. The laser developed in the 1960s was used for precision measuring equipment and for completely new processes such as laser cutting and welding or for the new generative manufacturing processes such as 3D printing or rapid prototyping .
- 21st century
In the context of industrialization 4.0 , processes are increasingly being virtualized. The production automation solves the handicraft workshop production from in the area. In addition to rapid prototyping, rapid product development now also relies on rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing , as the requirements for geometric complexity, small quantities and rapid market launch continue to increase.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The creation of the equipment used for production takes place in the same steps.
- ↑ Werner Skolaut (Ed.): Maschinenbau , Springer, 2014, p. 968.
- ↑ Grote, Engelmann, Beitz, Syrbe, Beyerer, track: The engineering knowledge - development, construction and production , Springer, 2012, p. 104.
- ^ A b c Warnecke: Revolution der Unternehmenskultur , Springer, 1993, pp. 11, 28–31, 33–37.
literature
- Christian Brecher (Ed.): Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries , Springer, 2011.
- Grote, Engelmann, Beitz, Syrbe, Beyerer, Spur: The engineering knowledge - development, construction and production , Springer, 2012.
- About history
- Günter Spur: Production technology in transition. Hanser, Munich 1979.
