Professor Heinz-Joachim Spies

Abstract

Heinz-Joachim Spies was born in Frankfurt/Oder on 25 June 1934. Having qualifi ed for university entrance in 1950, he fi rst worked as a blast furnace operator at the state ironworks combine Eisenhuttenkombinat Ost in Eisenhuttenstadt for a year before enrolling at the Bergakademie Freiberg in 1953 to study ferrous metallurgy. After graduation he started work in quality control and research at the Edelstahlwerk Freital special steelworks in 1958. As head of the materials department he initially dedicated himself to the advancement of test methods for analysing the microstructure and assessing the properties of high grade steels. This led on to research on steels for advanced applications. Over the period 1962–68, in addition to endurance and corrosion test facilities, a laboratory for the analysis of structure and microstructure emerged, including electron microscopy, X-ray fi ne structure analysis, electron beam analysis and physical measuring methods. In close cooperation with Forschungsinstitut Manfred von Ardenne, a multi-chamber electron beam furnace was used to produce nickel base alloys and pure titanium. His contribution to the development of special smelting methods and to the testing and application of the materials thus produced won high awards and honours. Based on the excellent scientifi c results thus obtained he earned his doctoral degree (Dr-Ing) in 1966 and successfully completed his higher doctorate (Habilitation) in 1972. In 1974 Heinz-Joachim Spies was appointed full professor for material applications at Bergakademie Freiberg, where, with his innate intensity and determination, he dedicated himself to establishing a new fi eld of study, i.e. material applications/materials technology. The experience he had gained in practice was an ideal basis for developing a sustainable education concept for materials engineers. The objective was to cover the entire process from material production and processing to Professor Spies, right, receives the Fellowship plaque from Professor Hans Zoch, IWT Bremen, IFHTSE Vice President