The Institute for Applied Materials – Materials Science and Engineering (IAM-WK) is active in the field of research, education, and innovation on structural and functional materials, particularly for mechanical engineering applications. We aim at revealing relationships between processes, structure and properties. The research activities of our seven research groups focus on the fields "Conditions and Properties" (1,2,3), "Materials Development" (3,4,5) and "Processes" (5,6,7). Therefore, we run specialized laboratories and workshops which are also used for education of our students in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. For both programmes, we conduct lectures, tutorials and lab courses as fundamental and advanced courses.
At the end of May 2025, the head of IAM-WK's administration, Mr. Thomas Börsig, retired. The institute, represented by the spokesperson of its directorate board, Prof. Astrid Pundt (on the right), and Prof. Martin Heilmaier (left), thanked Mr. Börsig during the farewell ceremony for more than a decade of outstanding and responsible work in the administration of our institute – wishing him all the best for the next chapter of his life after almost forty years of service to (today's) KIT.
Dr.-Ing. Alexander Kauffmann was appointed W3 Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Institute for Materials, Ruhr University Bochum in May 2025. After completing his doctorate summa cum laude at TU Dresden in 2014, Dr. Kauffmann joined the IAM-WK, where he has been head of the Physical Metallurgy since 2018, demonstrating not only his great commitment but also his in-depth expertise. He quickly established a successful research group by acquiring a number of publicly funded projects. Last year, the German Society for Materials Science (DGM) awarded him the prestigious Masing Memorial Prize.
We would like to thank Dr. Kauffmann for his many years of valuable service to the institute and wish him all the best in his new position!
On the occasion of KIT's Open Day event on May 17, 2025, we presented our "Workout for Materials" to the public. In our hands-on workshop, we increased the mechanical strength of steels and aluminium alloys, the materials were mechanically tested in our testing labs following heat treatments under the guidance of our materials scientists. Under our guidance, interested visitors examined the microstructural changes of the materials using the microscopes in our metallography lab and learned how metals and alloys gain or lose strength.
After all, as with people, the right training methods lead to success for materials.
Contact
You can contact us via mail to iam-wk-administration∂iam.kit.edu.
Campus South
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Institut für Angewandte Materialien – Werkstoffkunde (IAM–WK)
Campus Süd
Gebäude 10.91 und 10.96
Engelbert-Arnold-Straße 4
76131 Karlsruhe
Campus North
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Institut für Angewandte Materialien – Werkstoffkunde (IAM–WK)
Campus Nord
Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1
Gebäude 695
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Organization
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(Chalaguine)
Public Relations
Please contact Dr. Alexander Kauffmann or Nina Meng.