Scientific Advisory Board - Erich Schmid Institute

ERICH SCHMID INSTITUTE OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
Summary of the scientific report
the erich Schmid institute (eSi) can look back on a successful scientific year 2012, despite
far-reaching changes at the institute. the scientific results in 2012 are documented by more
than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals, such as Physical Review B, Physical Review
Letters, Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, and Philosophical Magazine. more than 40 invited
lectured were presented by our scientists at conferences or colloquia worldwide, illustrating
the high scientific reputation of the institute. At the 19 th european conference on fracture in
Kasan, otmar Kolednik and Reinhard pippan both gave plenary lectures, which points out the
impact of eSi in this research area. the institute benefits also from its junior scientists. in 2011
and 2012, 13 of our approximately 20 phd students and 11 diploma students finished their
degree in materials Science.
the excellent research performed by the scientists of the institute has been honored by several
awards. especially mentioned should be the “masing gedächtnispreis” – the highest award of
the german material Society (dgm) for young scientists (age less than 40) for christian motz,
the fritz grasenick award of the Austrian Society for electron microscopy as well as the fritz
Kohlrausch Award of the Austrian physical Society for daniel Kiener and the promotion “sub
auspiciis praesidentis” of christoph Kirchlechner. otmar Kolednik was awarded the fellowship
of the european Structural integrity Society for his outstanding contributions to experimental
and non-linear fracture mechanics. the organization of outstanding scientific symposia at the
plasticity 2012 in San Juan and the 8 th european Solid mechanics conference emcS 2012 in
graz and different workshops emphasizes the scientific visibility of the institute. Additionally we
attract well-known international experts to eSi’s materials colloquia demonstrating again the
high international reputation of the institute.
the director of eSi, gerhard dehm, left the institute on 30 th September 2012, and took up
the position as director at the max planck institute for iron Research in düsseldorf, germany.
christian motz, one of the leading scientists in the field of micromechanics and dislocation
simulation, accepted the offer of the University of Saarbrücken as chair of the institute for
material Science and methods. this is one of germans materials science departments with
the highest reputation. these appointments are indicators of the quality of the scientific output
of the institute, especially, if one takes into account that within less than 10 years two directors
of eSi have been appointed as max planck directors. However, this is also a challenge for
the institute to hold the international leading position in its research areas. fortunately, Zaoli
Zhang remains at the institute as he also had an offer to lead one of the leading transmission
electron microscopy centers in the world at the University of marseille. With his expertise
and the successful young scientists daniel Kiener and christoph Kirchlechner in the field
micromechanics the institute is in a good position to solve the above mentioned challenges.
the budget problem of the institute due to the financial crisis of the ÖAW could be solved
by the offer of the BmWf to transfer one research group “application oriented severe plastic
deformation” to the chair of mp. this permits to hold the personal capacity of the research
alliance of eSi and mp despite the budget reduction in 2012. from third parties project money,
eSi and mp purchased a new X-ray diffractometer, now the most advanced XRd system in
Austria. Besides our synchrotron activities this investment will permit us to hold our top position
in this research area.
page 12 Scientific RepoRt 2012