The Institute for Materials is responsible for materials teaching in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. It provides materials teaching for all students in mechanical engineering, civil engineering and the Environmental Engineering and Resource Management and Sales Engineering and Product Management programs. In mechanical engineering, the Institute for Materials offers its own specialization with a bachelor's and a master's degree in materials engineering. It also designs a series of elective lectures for engineers from other disciplines and for natural scientists studying materials as a minor subject.

We are one of the sponsors of the International Max Planck Research School for Surface and Interface Engineering of Advanced Materials (IMPRS SurMat, speakers: M. Stratmann and G. Eggeler), participating in the English-language Summer and Winter Schools for PhD students offered there. Together with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS), the Institute for Materials offers an international, English-language Master's program in Materials Science and Simulation. During the reporting period, the Institute for Materials was at the center of the SFB 459 Shape Memory Technology (2000 to 2011) and has been home to the SFB/TR 103 Single-Crystalline Superalloys since 2012. The Institute of Materials also organizes the Materials Research Department of the Ruhr-University Bochum (spokespersons: G. Eggeler and R. Drautz) and leads the Center for Interfacially Dominated High Performance Materials ZGH (directors: A. Ludwig, R. Drautz, G. Eggeler)). In both research and teaching, it maintains close contacts with all materials science-oriented researchers at the Ruhr University Bochum, at neighboring universities and at surrounding research institutes.

At the Institute of Materials, we teach and conduct research in a climate characterized by science. This results from active research and dedicated teaching, which is recognized and appreciated in the international scientific community of our discipline. The scientific climate at the Institute of Materials is such that staff and students feel that they are dealing with current technical, scientific and social problems. Future engineers must be able to assess technology consequences and understand that technical innovation can only make a meaningful contribution to solving the problems facing our society today through integration with other societal developments. 

The nature of education at the Institute of Materials does not necessarily occur only through lectures with appropriate titles. It also has to do with the environment of each member of the Institute, with the nature of research projects, with the preparation and follow-up of lectures and excursions, with the exchange of ideas with others and in conversations on the sidelines of daily work. 

Life at the Institute of Materials also includes institute excursions, which take place in the summer. These can take the form of sightseeing, bicycle tours, soccer tournaments, always followed by barbecue afternoons. An important element of the institute's life are also the Christmas parties, where we always like to welcome our alumni. 

Part of the good functioning of the Institute of Materials is that the costs for the expensive experimental infrastructure are borne jointly by the units of the Institute of Materials. This concerns both the experimental facilities and the jointly financed institute library.

The Institute for Materials exists since the founding of the Ruhr University Bochum; it is known nationally and internationally for its activities in research. In teaching, the Institute for Materials has set accents that attracted attention far beyond the region (textbook "Materials" by Prof. Dr.-Ing. E. Hornbogen, holder of the Chair of Materials Science 1968-1995, textbook "Steel Science for Engineers" by Prof. Dr.-Ing. H. Berns, holder of the Chair of Materials Technology from 1980-2000). Over the years, a number of university professors have emerged from the Institute of Materials. 

Two collaborative research centers - SFB 459 (shape memory technology) and SFB/Transregio 103 (single crystal superalloys) have helped to bring the experimental infrastructure of the Institute of Materials to a high level.

The founding of the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS) in 2008 at Ruhr-Universität Bochum has expanded materials research in Bochum to include cross-scale modeling of materials.

The establishment of the Materials Research Department (MRD) in 2010 has allowed the integration of materials researchers from other disciplines into the research activities of the Institute of Materials.

The Institute of Materials considers a wide range of advanced materials in the fields of metals, ceramics, polymers and composites, which are newly developed or advanced. The knowledge required is taught of the physical and chemical fundamentals of their structure, the examination of their properties and the technical possibilities of their production, processing and application. The knowledge required here is taught at the Institute of Materials at the Ruhr University.

The Institute Library for Materials is a reference library, which is supervised by a research assistant and a student assistant. Its holdings include 3246 technical books and 26 technical journals. In addition, all student seminars, student theses, constructive drafts, diploma theses, dissertations and post-doctoral theses, which have been supervised by the Institute for Materials since its establishment in the winter semester 1968/69, are kept in the library. The journals of the renowned institutes dealing with the subject of materials are also available for reference in the institute library.

All reference books and journals available in the institute library are listed in the catalog of the University Library of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Babsy) and can be searched via the Internet.

Since the institute library is a reference library, lending to students and persons from outside the institute is only possible in exceptional cases and after consultation with the library representative.
Room: ICFO 04 / 352-314

Opening hours: 
Mondays to Fridays: 09:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Contact person:
Mrs. Alexandra Herzinger
Chair of Materials Science
Room: ICFO 04-313
Phone: 0234/32-23022
E-mail: alexandra.herzinger@rub.de