250th Anniversary of TU Bergakademie Freiberg

Abstract

Dear Reader, This special issue of Steel Research International is dedicated to the 250th jubilee of the foundation of Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg which was established in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany in the year 1765. Since then, there was a continuous evolution of education and research. Today, our university is among the most active German universities in the field of materials science and technology. Education in metallurgy started very early after the foundation in 1765 due to the Saxonian mining and metallurgy industry which is dating back to the 12th century. Very early, Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) started also lectures on ferrous metallurgy. In 1874, Adolf Ledebur (1837–1906) was appointed as professor and founded a dedicated course of studies for iron and steel making. Thus, the Institute for Steel Technology is among the oldest institutes in this field worldwide. At that time, iron and steel making, casting and forming were still in one hand. With ongoing research and industrial development, the topics of casting and metal forming developed separately and dedicated professorships and institutes developed in Freiberg. In parallel, also the physical metallurgy and a laboratory for metallography were established early in the 20th century. Two papers of this issue give overviews on the development of iron metallurgy as well as metal forming in Freiberg. Today, several institutes are dedicated to research and education with additional activities in refractories, non-ferrous materials, semiconductors, ceramics, glass, and composites by more than 20 professors within three faculties of the university. The activities in the field of steels cover a broad variety of topics. Special programs, e.g., by the German Research Foundation, as the priority program 1204 “Algorythms for Fast, Material Specific Process-Chain Design and Analysis in Metal Forming” (organized by R. Kawalla), the collaborative research centers SFB 799 “TRIP-Matrix-Composites – Design of tough and transformation toughened composite materials and structures based on Fe-ZrO2” (spokesperson H. Biermann) and SFB 920 “Multi-Functional Filters for Metal Melt Filtration – A Contribution towards Zero Defect Materials” (spokesperson C. Aneziris) are worldwide visible activities in this field. Moreover, additional contributions on the field of technology, properties, and modelling of steels and steel processes are presented to give an impression on the research activities. Finally, we wish to thank the editorial board of steel research international for the possibility to present this collection of papers to the broad steel community. Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany