Faculty of Engineering Celebrates Its 500th Doctorate

The first doctorates (Dr.-Ing.) at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bayreuth were awarded as early as 1999. Since then, the number of successfully completed doctoral projects has steadily increased, clearly underlining the faculty’s strong research performance.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stephan Tremmel, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, commented on this achievement: “The 500th successful doctorate completed within the Faculty of Engineering marks a milestone that not only highlights our academic excellence, but also reflects more than 25 years of tradition in excellence, innovation and interdisciplinarity in engineering research at the University of Bayreuth. Currently, between 25 and 35 doctoral candidates graduate from our faculty each year — a remarkable figure that is made possible through close collaboration between our chairs, non-university research institutions and industry partners, as well as through international cooperation. We are particularly pleased that these doctoral projects are completed within an average time frame of 3.5 years and, for the most part, with very high grades. This clearly demonstrates effective supervision, structured support and the high quality of our doctoral processes. The faculty looks back with pride on its 500 graduates — even though a doctorate is only one of many paths to a successful engineering career. Many of our graduates go on to secure outstanding positions in industry, research, public administration or start-ups with societal impact and high recognition immediately after completing their Master’s degrees. However, if our graduates are driven by a passion for research and the challenges of tomorrow, we are already looking forward to the next 500 doctorates!”

Conducted as part of a project funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation, Ms Hartbauer’s doctoral research investigated the performance of thermally sprayed protective coatings based on intermetallic systems of nickel–aluminium and iron–aluminium in contact with molten glass. The interactions between aluminium-containing intermetallic protective coatings and commercially available soda-lime glass melts were studied in depth, including under real production conditions. The effectiveness of the wear protection coatings was clearly demonstrated, as they withstood extremely harsh conditions for more than nine hours, although slight discolouration of the glass was observed at the current stage.

The findings of Ms Hartbauer’s research show that conventional lubricants based on oil and graphite could potentially be eliminated in glass bottle manufacturing. This would contribute to environmental protection while simultaneously improving working conditions.