Professor David May has accepted the call to the University of Bremen. He will be teaching and conducting research in faculty 4 in the future. As a cooperation professor, he also heads up the Faserinstitut Bremen e.V. Additionally, an Airbus endowed professorship enables him to conduct research into rivet-free assembly technologies for fiber composites.
The field of materials technology/fiber-reinforced composites/lightweight construction is closely associated with the Faserinstitut Bremen e.V. (FIBRE). The institute was established in 1969 as a cotton-testing laboratory and today specializes in fiber-reinforced plastics as well as synthetic and natural fibers for technical textiles. The spectrum ranges from lightweight high-performance carbon for aircraft and space rockets to special fibers for violin strings.
In order to develop these applications, a fundamental understanding of the material classes is built up and used for the development of new materials, process technologies, (lightweight) designs, and simulation, testing, measurement, and monitoring methods. To this end, an interdisciplinary team of over 60 international employees combines a wide range of expertise in engineering with specialist knowledge in chemistry, physics, and computer science. Particular research highlights currently include the new testing laboratory for investigating material behavior at cryogenic temperatures and the thermoplastic welding laboratory, which is being further expanded as part of an Airbus endowed professorship.
FIBRE Locations at the University and at ECOMAT
To ensure the best possible networking with cooperating partners from academic and industrial sectors, FIBRE's offices, laboratories, and plants are located both on the campus of the University of Bremen (IW3) and at ECOMAT, the Bremen research and technology center (Airport-Stadt). The cotton-testing laboratory is still located at the Cotton Exchange (natural fiber testing).
David May, born in 1987 in Baden-Baden, relocated to Kaiserslautern after his basic military service in the air force to study industrial engineering at the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), with a specialization in mechanical engineering. In 2012, he began working as a research assistant at the Leibniz Institute for Composite Materials (IVW), where he completed his doctorate in July 2015 in the field of processing technology with a dissertation on the impregnation behavior of textile reinforcement structures.
Success in the BMBF NanoMatFutur Competition for Young Researchers
In January 2016, he became head of the “Impregnation and Preform Technologies” unit and lecturer at the RPTU for “Integrated Product Development with Composites.” After success in the BMBF NanoMatFutur competition for young researchers, he also led an interdisciplinary research group on composite materials for mobility and transport. In June 2021, he habilitated and received the venia legendi “Composite Materials Processing.” David May was appointed Technical-Academic Director of the newly established Digitalization department at IVW in 2023, making material and process development his area of focus.
David May is most interested in the behavior of materials and semi-finished products when they are processed into components. This is an interdisciplinary research area that is particularly multifaceted in the field of fiber-reinforced plastics: “We have to understand the physics of the process and then deduce which semi-finished product properties influence the course of the process. Then we develop appropriate test setups to determine precisely these properties, as we are often still a long way from standardized methods here, even for very critical properties.”
The test rigs must in turn be equipped with sensors that are embedded in software. Based on the results, material models can then be created that are incorporated into process simulations. “Ultimately, we then have the toolbox we need to optimally match material and process. In some areas, we are also working on supplementing or even replacing the experiments for semi-finished product characterization with material simulations, increasingly supported by machine learning methods,” says the university lecturer.
Endowed Professorship for Thermoplastic Welding Technologies
To conduct research in this field, you need a diverse range of skills in the team, but also the right research partners. “Bringing all of this together is what makes this so appealing to me. The thermoplastic welding technologies that are the focus of the endowed professorship are a wonderful opportunity for us to pursue precisely these methodical approaches.”
In his teaching, it is important to Professor May to show students the design possibilities. Whether the goal is eliminating combustion engines or achieving zero-emission flight: the university's technical degree programs provide the tools to make these goals a reality. “For me, of course, the focus is on lightweight construction using fiber-reinforced plastics, which can make an enormous contribution here, especially in aviation.”
David May chose Bremen and the University of Bremen because the location impressed him in many ways. “The local industry, of course the aerospace industry, but also beyond, is very exciting for my research in the field of fiber-plastic composites. And here on campus, conveniently close together, you can find chairs and affiliated institutes of the University of Bremen across the entire spectrum of my research.” He sees opportunities for collaboration here, or in some cases there are even already intensive cooperations with his institute.
“I was able to get to know many of my future colleagues in the run-up to my decision and immediately had a good feeling. The atmosphere is positive and everyone is moving forward together. But what was most important for my decision was the enthusiasm and joy in research that I immediately perceived in my future team at the Faserinstitut.” The institute has repeatedly managed to enter new fields of research with great foresight and is very well equipped. "A good example is our cryo-laboratory, which is currently under construction and which will enable us to test materials using liquid nitrogen, helium, and soon hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures. We are building the laboratory partly together with Airbus directly in the ECOMAT technology center in the Airport-Stadt and partly at the German Aerospace Center on the campus. So here, too, the great opportunities for cooperation are evident.”
Outside of work, he is also impressed by the city as a whole. In summer, it is wonderfully green in many places, it is a bike-friendly city, and his children enjoy the lakes and parks.
Familiar Solutions plus Completely New Fields
As the new director of the FIBRE institute, Professor May has a direct insight into the full range of research conducted there. “I am very familiar with many of the topics, especially in the field of composite materials, from my previous work. I am very much looking forward to seeing the solutions that have been developed here for similar problems – after all, each institute has its own unique approach. Other areas, especially functional fibers, are quite new to me. So there is a lot for me to discover.”
The position offers many opportunities for development. David May has already held the first strategy meetings with his team, and developing a vision for the institute's future and implementing it is a particular pleasure for him. “The realization of the Airbus endowed professorship, combined with the planned laboratory expansions, is of course music to a researcher's ears.”
A Wealth of Teaching Ideas
As head of the institute, May's responsibilities also include maintaining and expanding the institute's networks. A lot has happened in the first few weeks, and there is a lot more on his to-do list. “There is just a great deal going on here, from the research and transfer focus on aerospace to the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes. So far, my colleagues have made it very easy for me to settle in. Finally, he is looking forward to getting back into teaching and into interacting with students after a break of a few months: “We have a lot of ideas for our classes!”
