 A transregional collaborative research center (SFB Transregio) is funded since 2006 in order to exploit the potential of grading monomaterials, such as steel, aluminium and polypropylen, by using thermomechanically coupled manufacturing processes.The basic structural units of FGMs are elements or material ingredients represented by "maxel".The term maxel was introduced in 2005 by Rajeev Dwivedi and Radovan Kovacevic at Research Center for Advanced Manufacturing (RCAM).