For the seventeenth time, the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (IWW) at Chemnitz University of Technology organised the Materials Engineering Colloquium. This year, the lecture hall building provided the 180 participants with an ideal setting for the two-day event from 11 to 12 September. In 50 scientific lectures and poster contributions as well as impulse lectures by industry representatives, the latest research results, innovative applications and process engineering developments were reported. Plenary lectures by renowned scientists gave participants insights into the production of oxide fibre-reinforced ceramics, the fatigue behaviour of materials with extremely high vibration coefficients (VHCF) and aspects of energy efficiency in electrodeposition.

The annual conference addresses current issues in materials development, coating and surface technology, wear and thermal protection as well as composite materials and material composites, which are presented and discussed by proven experts in the sector from science and industry. In addition, current research results from the Collaborative Research Centre 692 "High-strength aluminium-based lightweight materials for safety components" were presented. Furthermore, the ESF junior research group „Transfer of novel smart fibre composites to Saxon SMEs“ presented results of its three-year research work.

For the first time this year, a poster session was held in which the authors drew the attention of the conference participants to their work with a short presentation. Julian Noll, research associate at the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Chemnitz University of Technology, was able to convince the jury with his poster „Low temperature joining of copper using silver nanoparticles“, a work from the Federal Cluster of Excellence „MERGE“, and received the „Best Poster Award“ for it. The „Best Paper Award“ went to Marvin Hecht from Clausthal University of Technology for his contribution „Hardfacing of filler wire-based hard alloys with controlled short arc processes for the production of high-quality hardfacing“.

During the evening event, Jan Jassner, Managing Director of the Chemnitz fashion company Bruno Banani, gave a rousing and fascinating presentation on how boring underwear can be developed into a product that is in high demand worldwide through new design, innovative materials and unique marketing. „From the success story of Bruno Banani we also learn for our industry how important it is to present the knowledge gained in a vivid way and to place it correctly in order to anchor it in people's minds“, comments Prof. Dr. Thomas Lampke, organiser of this year's WTK, on the lecture.

All contributions to the 17th WTK were reviewed and are summarised in the conference proceedings, which are available athttp://www.wtk.tu-chemnitz.decan be ordered.

The 18th Materials Technology Colloquium will take place on 10 and 11 March 2016 at the same venue. In addition, the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering is already inviting participants to Chemnitz on 11 and 12 November 2014 for the annual advanced training course "Electrochemical Coatings (ELCH)". Interested parties from industry, research institutions and vocational training centres will be given in-depth insights into the latest developments in electrochemistry and electroplating as well as material and surface characterisation methods with the two-day advanced training programme consisting of lectures and practical exercises. Information on registration and the course programme is available to interested parties athttps://www.tu-chemnitz.de/mb/OTF/WKES.
We look forward to seeing you there!