Welcome to the ILH

Lightweight design is a key technology with great potential for saving resources. Less material is used in lightweight design products and light vehicles need less fuel or lighter electric vehicles have a longer range. But beyond the automotive and transport industry, there are numerous other applications for lightweight design, for example in medical technology, the construction industry or the leisure sector.
At the Institute for Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems (ILH), we focus on hybrid lightweight structures. They are characterized by the fact that the interaction of different materials gives them special properties, e.g. in terms of stiffness or strength. Through the resource-efficient fusion of new materials and smart structures, they meet a wide range of requirements with maximum weight savings.
However, new materials and material combinations also create new challenges in terms of maintenance, repair and reuse of lightweight products. This is why research in this field is so important. Therefore we practice intensive knowledge transfer between engineering and natural sciences at the ILH and address research questions in the field of basic and applied research in interdisciplinary project teams.


Take a look at this YouTube video to see where we work and what ideas we pursue:

Your contact persons

Dr. Silvia Dohmeier-Fischer

More about the person

Prof. Dr. Thomas Tröster

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Prof. Dr.-Ing. Guido Grundmeier

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News

13.04.2025

New high-speed AFM for the ILH

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03.02.2025

We wel­come the Chair of Sus­tain­able In­dus­tri­al­isa­tion and Re­si­li­ent In­fra­struc­ture (NI­WI) as a new spe­cial­ist group at the ILH

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21.11.2024

Dis­cus­sion on the use of FRP in the auto­mot­ive in­dustry

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28.10.2024

Lisa Tölle (KTP) wins WAK award

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11.11.2024

We warmly wel­come Pro­fess­or Dr.-Ing. Os­t­wald, Head of the Chair of Struc­tur­al and Ma­ter­i­als Mech­an­ics

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11.10.2024

2nd Joint Meet­ing of the DM­RC and ILH Ad­vis­ory and Ex­ec­ut­ive Boards

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More news

At a glance

Or­gan­isa­tion

The ILH is currently home to twelve specialist groups and working groups from mechanical engineering (MB) and the natural sciences (NW) of chemistry and physics.

Blau beleuchtete Prüfmaschine

Main re­search areas

The research topics covered by the ILH fall into the research fields of materials and interfaces, production technology and processes, and methods and modelling.

Two people wearing protective clothing in a machine hall.

Equip­ment

The technical centre in the lightweight construction research building offers around 2000 square metres of space for state-of-the-art equipment for manufacturing and testing components.

Forschungsgebäude am Mersinweg

An in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary team

Ten professors from Paderborn University and their teams from the fields of mechanical engineering, chemistry and physics pool their expertise at the ILH. The close exchange at the level of scientific staff drives interdisciplinary innovation.

Verwendung der Biaxialen Prüfmaschine

DFG-fun­ded large-scale equip­ment

An overview of the large-scale equipment successfully applied for by the DFG for research and teaching at the ILH.

Kids Box

The ILH supports employees with regard to the compatibility of family and work by providing the KidsBox.
The KidsBox is a mobile children's room, contains toys for babies and children up to primary school age and offers sleeping and nappy-changing facilities.

How to find us

Lageplan des Y Gebäudes und Umgebung

The ILH is located on campus in the Y building, Mersinweg 7.

Dr. Silvia Dohmeier-Fischer

Institute for Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems
Room Y2.101
Paderborn University
Mersinweg 7
33100 Paderborn

Office hours

Mon. to Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.