Diplom Materials Science and Technology

Materials determine our lives! High-performance steels in the automobile can save our lives in an emergency, lightweight materials save many millions of tonnes of crude oil, modern communication systems would not be possible without high-performance materials. In order to be able to produce these products, the properties of the used materials must be adapted to the respective application. It is important to know what influences the material properties and how materials are produced with the desired properties. From glass, ceramics, plastics and metals to composites or semiconductor materials, the range of materials is so wide that students need to focus on specific groups in a single course of study. Therefore, the focus is on metallic materials and semiconductor materials.

In the basic lectures at the beginning of the course of study, the correlations between the technological parameters of the manufacturing process, the internal structure of the materials and the material properties are presented and the conditions for efficient use of materials are explained. The production of the materials has to be geared towards their processing and use so, these correlations are illustrated using examples. However, the cycle of the materials is not finished with the end of the use of the respective product. The entire chain from materials production to use and recycling has to be considered in order to ensure the sustainable use of our raw materials, including secondary raw materials for recycling.

Students find the best study conditions due to competent specialist supervision. They are provided with the most modern equipment and laboratory facilities. Students have the opportunity to be involved in scientific work at an early stage as student assistants and to work closely with doctoral students on research into new composite materials.

The close link between manufacturing technologies, material properties and applications as well as the internal structure of the materials is a speciality at German universities. Especially this understanding is an essential prerequisite for a successful graduate engineer in the field of materials science and materials technology. And this is exactly where the course of study in Freiberg differs significantly from other universities in Germany.