Award for Young Scientist From Chemnitz
Dr. Robert Wonneberger from Chemnitz University of Technology received the Rohde & Schwarz Award in Jena for his dissertation in the field of materials science - rare distinction for a dissertation from this discipline
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Dr. Robert Wonneberger received the Rohde & Schwarz Prize for his dissertation. This makes Wonneberger's dissertation one of the rare cases in which a dissertation in the field of materials science has received this award. Photo: private
Robert Wonneberger, research associate at the Professorship of Electron Microscopy and Microstructural Analysis (Head: Prof. Dr. Andreas Undisz) at Chemnitz University of Technology, was awarded the Faculty Prize of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy at Friedrich Schiller University Jena on July 1th, 2022 for his dissertation “Frühe Stadien der Oxidation des nichtrostenden Austenits 316L – Zur Bildung mehrlagiger Oxidschichten” (Early Stages of Oxidation of Austenitic Stainless Steel 316L - On the Formation of Multilayer Oxide Layers). The prize is awarded for the best dissertation of the past year, donated by the Munich-based company Rohde & Schwarz and includes prize money of 1,500 euros. The decisive criteria for selection by the faculty jury are the outstanding scientific quality of the work and the originality of the solutions developed. In the more than 30-year history of the award, Dr. Robert Wonneberger's dissertation is one of only a few that have succeeded from the field of materials science at the faculty, which is traditionally strongly rooted in optics. With over 50 doctorates completed in 2021, the number of candidates was also exceptionally high.
"This award is a great confirmation and at the same time an incentive to consistently continue research on fundamental materials science issues," says Dr. Robert Wonneberger delightedly. The targeted application of modern electron microscopy methods will continue to be a decisive prerequisite for this in the future.
"With his work, Mr. Wonneberger bridges the gap between low-temperature and high-temperature oxidation of stainless steels for the first time and was also able to show that the observed effects also occur in many other Cr-containing metallic materials," says Prof. Dr. Andreas Undisz of Chemnitz University of Technology. His results are thus the basis for a deeper understanding of the oxidation and corrosion behavior of stainless steel and Cr-containing alloys in general.
(Translation: Brent Benofsky)
Matthias Fejes
07.09.2022
