WW-Colloquium: Prof. Dr. Hauke Springer „Sustainable metallurgy – leveraging nano-scaled understanding for bulk processes”

Prof. Dr. Hauke Springer
Sustainable Metallurgy, Department Mechanical and Process Engineering, University Duisburg-Essen
Sustainable metallurgy - leveraging nano-scaled understanding for bulk processes

Metallic materials are a key enabler for modern civilization, but their long, complex and interwoven lifecycles from mining raw materials to end-of-life treatments also represent an enormous impact on the global energy consumption, climate effects and environmental pollution. This talk presents selected insights into current challenges and opportunities of research into sustainable metallurgy. Three examples highlight the potential of leveraging nano-scaled understanding for improving the bulk metallurgical production processes: the challenges and solutions for the decarbonization of steel production, new possibilities in lightweight design by overcoming the inherent conflicts between stiffness, density, strength and ductility, and lastly opening pathways to a longer lifespan of components by implementing self-healing capabilities into metallic material microstructures.