On 1 October 2024, the team of research assistants at the Department of Materials Science and Materials Testing at the Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences was once again strengthened. Vanessa Hayna succeeds Jan-Erik Nebel in the BMBF-funded project ‘MiNaMag’. 
Jan-Erik Nebel will in future be working on the DFG project ‘In-situ and ex-situ characterisation of microstructure evolution in the scanning electron microscope for the development of microstructure models on the model material copper’. Florian Juner, together with Dr. Viktor Lymakin, will work on the BMUV joint project ‘Micromagnetic in-situ recording of the microstructure development of fatigue-stressed steels of nuclear components for a short-time method for fatigue life prediction’ in a consortium with the WPT of the TU Dortmund and the GRS Cologne, which is handled by the project management organisation GRS. I look forward to our future work together and am excited about the fascinating projects.

On 1 February 2024, Janina Koziol took over as head of the "Analytics and Microscopy" group at the Department of Materials Science and Materials Testing at Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences. Janina has been an important part of the WWHK team since October 2022 and has been in charge of the procurement of the scanning electron microscope (funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)) and the associated infrastructure, among other things. 
I and the team are delighted that she has taken on this important and responsible task.
Together with Fabian Weber (Senior Engineer, Group Leader "Fatigue and Fatigue Life Calculation"), she will play a key role in shaping the scientific direction of the WWHK. 
I and we are looking forward to continuing our excellent collaboration with many new ideas and approaches.

In cooperation with the WPT of the TU Dortmund University, the new DFG project "Quantified evaluation of the influence of stress frequency on the fatigue behavior of unalloyed steels for implementation in resource-efficient service life prediction methods" has been processed since July 2023 with a project duration of 24 months. Jonas Ziman, who has been employed at the WWHK since successfully completing his master's degree at Saarland University, is responsible for the project.

From December 2022, the research project entitled "Evaluation of the frequency influence on the fatigue behaviour of unalloyed steels", funded by the Budget for Research and Innovation, will start at WWHK.

The aim of the project is to extend short-term methods for determining fatigue data to the VHCF range. The research project is being worked on by Moritz Maul, who has already been working as a student assistant at the WWHK for several years and will further strengthen the team of scientific staff and assistants.

Due to his outstanding achievements in the framework of his Master's studies and his very good Master's thesis, Mr. Srinivasa Raghavan Raghuraman was honoured with the John Deere Award in the Department of Applied Engineering Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern. Mr. Srinivasa Raghavan Raghuraman is from Chennai, India, where he also completed his Bachelor's degree. He then started his Master's studies at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern in 2019 and graduated in 2021. At WWHK, he was first employed as a student assistant and then as a research assistant and will take over the processing of a DFG-funded research project with a project duration of 3 years from November 2022. The entire WWHK team congratulates Mr. Srinivasa Raghavan Raghuraman on his outstanding performance and the award.

In September, a new DFG-funded joint research project will start at the WWHK in cooperation with the IEHK of RWTH Aachen University. The project focuses on the re-use potential of already used metallic components and structures.

The funding amounts to 320 t€ with a duration of 36 months. In addition to funding for consumables and infrastructure as well as auxiliary scientific staff, the DFG has also approved a doctoral student position for the same period. 

On March 25, 2022, Zhenjie Teng held the colloquium at Saarland University within the framework of the doctoral procedure and successfully defended his thesis. The committee included Prof. Dirk Bähre (chairman, Saarland University), Prof. Christian Boller (reviewer, Saarland University) and Prof. Peter Starke (reviewer, University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern/Saarland University) and Dr. Frank Aubertin (representative scientists, Saarland University). The WWHK team wishes Dr. Teng all the best for his professional and private future and is looking forward to a good cooperation in the future.

This was also an important milestone for the WWHK, as Dr. Teng was the first of the team to complete his PhD. Hopefully, many more will follow...

In September 2021, the new BMBF joint project in the "FH-Kooperativ" programme will start with the title "Micro- and nanostructured hard magnetic materials and components for microtechnical applications (MiNaMag)". In addition to the WWHK, Prof. Monika Saumer (Department of Chemical Processes in Microsystems Technology, main applicant) and Prof. Sven Urschel (Department of Electrotechnical Systems in Mechatronics) and the company MOT are involved in the project, which will run for 48 months. The task of the WWHK within the framework of the joint project is the material characterisation of the electrochemically deposited materials to be developed. The WWHK team is looking forward to the interesting and interdisciplinary cooperation with the participating colleagues from the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern and MOT.

At the WWHK, the field of fatigue infrastructures can be upgraded again.

In August, a new servo-hydraulic fatigue testing machine from Shimadzu (EHF-E) with a maximum load of 20 kN is installed. In the future, the testing system will be used primarily in the BMWi projects running at the chair (EKusaP, MibaLeb II).

In addition, there will be the possibility of testing in the VHCF range at the WWHK in the future. A large-scale equipment application (INST 252/21-1) for the procurement of a resonance pulsator with optical strain measurement technology was approved and the test system is going to be procured by the end of the year.