*Article* **Computer-Aided Engineering Environment for Designing Tailored Forming Components**

#### **Tim Brockmöller \*, Renan Siqueira, Paul C. Gembarski, Iryna Mozgova and Roland Lachmayer**

Institute of Product Development, Leibniz University Hannover, An der Universität 1, 30823 Garbsen, Germany; siqueira@ipeg.uni-hannover.de (R.S.); gembarski@ipeg.uni-hannover.de (P.C.G.);

mozgova@ipeg.uni-hannover.de (I.M.); lachmayer@ipeg.uni-hannover.de (R.L.)

**\*** Correspondence: brockmoeller@ipeg.uni-hannover.de; Tel.: +49-0511-762-5340

Received: 29 October 2020; Accepted: 19 November 2020; Published: 27 November 2020

**Abstract:** The use of multi-material forming components makes it possible to produce components adapted to the respective requirements, which have advantages over mono-material components. The necessary consideration of an additional material increases the possible degrees of freedom in product and manufacturing process development. As a result, development becomes more complex and special expert knowledge is required. To counteract this, computer-aided engineering environments with knowledge-based tools are increasingly used. This article describes a computer-aided engineering environment (CAEE) that can be used to design hybrid forming components that are produced by tailored forming, a process chain developed in the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1153. The CAEE consists of a knowledge base, in which the knowledge necessary for the design of tailored forming parts, including manufacturer restrictions, is stored and made available. For the generation of rough and detailed design and for elaboration the following methods are used. The topology optimization method, Interfacial Zone Evolutionary Optimization (IZEO), which determines the material distribution. The design of optimized joining zone geometries, by robust design. The elaboration of the components by means of highly flexible computer-aided design (CAD) models, which are built according to the generative parametric design approach (GPDA).

**Keywords:** tailored forming; multi-material; IZEO; topology optimization; computer-aided engineering environment; GPDA; manufacturing restrictions
