The RWTH is the largest technical university in Germany with 45,284 students enrolled in 173 degree programs. >7,354 students and >1000 doctoral students graduate annually from RWTH. The RWTH is composed of 260 institutes in 9 faculties. It offers 40 graduate programs, including nine so-called Research Training Groups funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The Chair of Forming Technologies and Institute of Metal Forming (IBF) of RWTH Aachen University stands for teaching and research in the area of metal forming, across bulk and sheet metal forming, from semi-finished products to finished components, as well as additive manufacturing, combining industrial and lab-scale experimental facilities with advanced numerical/analytical/AI-based methods and comprehensive material characterization. In ECO-STEEL, RWTH will focus on developing roll bonding and twin-roll strip casting (TRSC)- based recycling technologies and on extensive characterization of the processed materials. Furthermore, RWTH will develop and validate a model for predicting bonding strength as a function of process parameters.
Junhe Lian is Full Professor and Head of the Chair of Forming Technologies & Institute of Metal Forming at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He received his Dr.-Ing. from RWTH Aachen and previously held positions at Aalto University (Finland) and MIT (USA). He has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2023), the Future Makers Award (2023), the ESAFORM Scientific Prize (2020), and various best paper awards. His research focuses on advancing material forming technologies by integrating experimental characterization, physics-based modeling, and data-driven engineering. He serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Material Forming and Board Member of ESAFORM.
David Bailly, born in 1984, studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University (graduating in 2010) and then completed his doctorate in the field of forming technology under Prof. G. Hirt (doctorate in 2016). Since 2015, he is chief engineer at the Institute of Metal Forming at RWTH Aachen University and responsible for the scientific fields of strip casting, bulk metal forming and sheet metal forming as well as for the technical infrastructure and administrative matters.
Dr.-Ing. Emad Scharifi is chief engineer at the Institute of Metal Forming (IBF) at RWTH Aachen University, where he contributes both to research activities and to the scientific management of projects. He completed Ph.D. at University of Kassel (GER) and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Duisburg-Essen (GER). He worked at the Department of Microstructure Physics and Alloy Design, Max-Planck-Institute for Iron Research, Duesseldorf (GER).
Annemarie Heiser is a doctoral candidate and group manager in the Flat & Long Products research group at the Institute of Metal Forming (IBF). She earned her M. Sc. in Materials Engineering from RWTH Aachen University. Her research focuses on damage evolution in hot forming processes. She is also the scientific manager for the rolling mills at IBF.
Dorothea Czempas is a doctoral candidate and group manager of the Strip Casting research group at the Institute of Metal Forming (IBF) at RWTH Aachen University. She studied Business Administration and Engineering: Materials and Process Engineering at RWTH Aachen University. Her research focuses on the strip casting of electrical steel.
Sebastian Häner is a doctoral candidate in the Strip-casting research group at the Institute of Metal Forming (IBF). He earned his M.Sc. In Materials Engineering from RWTH Aachen University. His research focuses on the recycling of different materials and the casting and processing of light metals.