The forerunner of today's Institute of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy and High-Purity Materials was founded when the Freiberg Mining Academy was established in the year. The institute is the oldest mining science institute in the world. In 1766, Christlieb Ehregott Gellert took over the Chair of Metallurgy, Chemistry and Testing as a teacher of metallurgical chemistry and held this position until 1795. He was primarily concerned with the process of "cold amalgamation", which was introduced in Freiberg around 1790.

In 1794, Wilhelm August Lampadius was appointed Professor of Metallurgical Chemistry and subsequently Professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy from 1795 to 1842. He was best known for his work on gas lighting. He was also one of the pioneers in the establishment of chemical laboratories. He set one up in 1796/1797 in the Bergakademie's courtyard building.

Carl Friedrich Plattner took over the professorship for metallurgy and solder pipe testing from 1842 to 1856. He worked on the determination of silver in the metals of Freiberg ores. His coal-fired muffle furnace, which significantly improved the possibilities of the art of assaying, also deserves special mention.

Franz Wilhelm Fritzsche took over the professorship for assaying and metallurgy from 1856 to 1873. From 1863 to 1893, Hieronymus Theodor Richter was Professor of Soldering Tube Tasting. His greatest scientific success was the discovery of indium in 1863 in collaboration with Freiberg professor Ferdinand Reich. From 1866 to 1873, Richter was head of the metallurgical laboratory.

His successor as head of the metallurgical laboratory was Franz Jacob Arnulf Ludwig Schertel, who held the professorship for metallurgy from 1896 to 1902. Among other things, he investigated the gases from the Freiberg lead furnaces and smoke damage in the vicinity of the Freiberg smelting works.

From 1903 to 1909, Carl Wilhelm Anton Schiffner was Professor of Metallurgy and Electrometallurgy and from 1909 to 1930 Professor of Metallurgy, Electrometallurgy and Testing. His successor was Carl Franz Brenthel, who held the professorship until 1946.

In 1955, the institute was given its own building, the Gellertbau, which was completely vacated and renovated in 2003. Since 2006, the Institute has been located in the renovated Ledeburbau together with the Institute of Iron and Steel Technology.

From 1950 until today, the following professorships have existed:

From 1950 to 1968, Alfred Lange was Professor of Metallurgy and from 1969 to 1995, Klaus Hein was Professor of Non-Ferrous Materials and Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. Maja Krumnacker was Professor of Metallurgy and the first female professor at the Bergakademie from 1968 to 1991. In 1993, Eberhard Buhrig became Professor of Rare Metals and High-Purity Materials Metallurgy. In 1996, he was appointed Professor of Electronic Materials, which Arne Kröll took over in 2000 and held until 2006. Following Klaus Hein's retirement, Michael Stelter became Institute Director in 1996 and took over the Professorship of Non-ferrous Metallurgy and Materials Recycling. Christiane Scharf was appointed Professor of Metallurgy and Recycling of High-Tech Metals in 2013. Since 2021, Alexandros Charitos has succeeded Michael Stelter as Professor of High Temperature Processes in Metallurgy.

In the early 1960s, the Institute of Metallurgy, Electrometallurgy and Testing was part of the Faculty of Metallurgy and had a wide range of focal points: Thermodynamics and kinetics of metallurgical processes, pyro-, hydro- and electrometallurgy, flash smelting processes, semiconductor metallurgy and the fundamentals of modelling metallurgical processes.

In 1968, as part of the so-called 3rd university reform, the Institute of Metallurgy was merged with the Institutes of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Foundry Science and the Iron and Steel Institute to form the "Metallurgy and Materials Engineering" section. The institutes were thus dissolved.

The section was now divided into 5 scientific areas, including the production of non-ferrous metals, and a technical area. In the technical area, all laboratory capacities and technical capacities of the former institutes were summarised in so-called specialist departments. For metallurgy, there was the specialised department "Non-Ferrous Metallurgy Experimental Field". In 1988, the section was divided into two sections. One was the Materials Science Section and the other was Metallurgy and Foundry Technology, which also included the scientific field of production of non-ferrous metals. The sections were headed by section directors, who made all decisions that were previously reserved for the institute directors. In 1990, as part of the reorganisation of the university regulations, the sections were dissolved and the previous scientific areas were converted back into institutes. The institute was now called the Institute of Non-ferrous Metallurgy and High-Purity Materials.

In the 1970s, copper and lead electrolysis were intensified under Klaus Hein, as was the production of high-purity phosphorus for semiconductor purposes. Intensive collaboration with VEB Spurenmetalle took place with regard to the development of the production of high-purity metals. In addition, an electrolysis technology centre and single crystal growing were set up. Maja Krumnacker, expanded the use of secondary Al alloys.

In the 1980s, pyrometallurgical processes were modelled at the institute, electrolytic metal extraction and refining were further optimised and A⁵B⁵ semiconductors were grown

In addition to classic metallurgy, the production of semiconductor materials was and is carried out at the same institute, which is unique. Key areas of research in the field of semiconductors were the high purification of metals and the synthesis of compound semiconductors, such as monocrystalline gallium arsenide. The results of the investigations were successfully transferred to production in collaboration with industry.

From the 1990s onwards, intensive research was carried out into the further development of electrolysis processes for the extraction and refining of metals. In particular, research projects on copper refining electrolysis have been carried out in collaboration with renowned international copper smelters in Europe, the USA, Canada and Chile, which have attracted international attention.

In recent years, hydrometallurgy has carried out many projects on materials recycling, such as the preparation of process solutions from electroplating and metallurgy, the optimisation of leaching processes and the recycling of non-precious metal catalysts.

In the field of pyrometallurgy, various projects have been carried out to process secondary raw materials such as scrap, dust, slag, ash and dross, primarily from lead, copper and zinc extraction. The centrepiece of the pyrometallurgical technology centre is an ISA smelt pilot plant with a throughput of 50 - 100 kg/h.

In the field of semiconductor growth, one focus was on the further development of the vertical gradient freeze process, particularly for the production of single-crystal GaAs. Here, the influence of magnetic fields on the growth process was intensively investigated. Other areas of work include the production of Si and SiGe and currently the deposition of GaNi from the gas phase.

A new chapter in the history of the institute was opened in March 2020 with the appointment of Prof. Dr Alexandros Charitos to the professorship for high-temperature processes in metallurgy and the management of the institute.

Literature

Schleiff, H., Volkmer, R., Kaden, H. E., 2015, Catalogus Professorum Fribergensis, Professoren und Lehrer der TU Bergakademie Freiberg 1765 bis 2015, ed.: Herbert E. Kaden on behalf of the Rector of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 579 p.

Oettel, H., 2002, Zur Geschichte des Fachgebietes Werkstoffwissenschaft und Wekstofftechnologie an der Bergakademie von 1965 bis 2002, Beiträge zur Geschichte der TU Bergakademie Freiberg 1965 - 2002, Festgabe zum 300. Jahrestag der Stipendienkasse für die Akademische Ausbildung am Berg- und Hüttenfach zu Freiberg in Sachsen, ed.: Rektor der Technischen Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, pp. 330 - 354

Bombach, H, Stelter, M., Pätzold, O., 2006, The Institute of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy and High-Purity Materials at the Freiberg Mining Academy, BHM 151st vol. 1, pp. 18 - 26

Bombach, H., 2017, Obituary of Klaus Hein, ACAMONTA 24, pp.162 - 163