Südwestmetall award presented to early career researchers at the University of Stuttgart.

April 13, 2022

Dr.-Ing. Martin Werz received the award for his dissertation.

Special honor for young scientist Dr.-Ing. Martin Werz. The 35-year-old is one of nine early career researchers from Baden-Württemberg who were awarded the prize by the Südwestmetall employers' association at a ceremony in Stuttgart on Wednesday. Werz received the award for his dissertation at the University of Stuttgart on "Experimental and numerical investigations of friction stir welding of aluminum and aluminum-steel joints to improve mechanical properties."

Dr. Martin Werz and Wilfried Porth (Südwestmetall Chairman)

Less weight in lightweight construction.

The use of mixed construction methods can reduce weight in lightweight construction. One example of this is the use of aluminum-steel mixed construction methods in automotive construction. Werz's dissertation makes a significant contribution to scientific progress in three areas: in the development of novel joining geometries for the friction stir welding of aluminum-steel mixed joints with different plate thicknesses, in novel heat treatment strategies for friction stir welded aluminum-steel mixed joints, and the development of a novel thermomechanical material model for the process simulation of friction stir welding.

Honoring the outstanding achievements of early career researchers.

With this award, Südwestmetall has been honoring the outstanding achievements of early career researchers at Baden-Württemberg's nine state universities for more than 30 years. A Südwestmetall award worth 5,000 euros is awarded at each university. The universities propose scientific dissertations that are relevant to the industrial working world, or its sociopolitical framework and the prizes are awarded annually based on these proposals. "Firstly, we would like to make a contribution to showing how diverse and skilled the scientific landscape in Baden-Württemberg is, and secondly, we would like to honor these skills appropriately," said Südwestmetall Chairman Wilfried Porth at the award ceremony.

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