Materials colloquium in Chemnitz: Innovations for industry!

Materials colloquium in Chemnitz: Innovations for industry!

The 24th Materials Technology Colloquium (WTK) took place at Chemnitz University of Technology on April 9, 2025. With a record participation of 220 guests, the event set new standards in the history of the colloquium. The Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (IWW) at Chemnitz University of Technology was the organizer of this important meeting, which had the motto “Academia meets Industry”. The opening speech was given by Prof. Dr. Thomas Lampke, followed by greetings from the French colleague Prof. Dr. Lech Pawlowski from the University of Limoges.

The event included an industrial exhibition attended by companies such as Kulzer GmbH, 3D-Micromac AG and Netzsch- Gerätebau GmbH. The 62 specialist lectures covered current research and development topics and offered participants exciting insights into the latest findings and technologies. This included a plenary lecture by Dr. Klaus Nassenstein, who discussed automation in thermal spraying. In addition, Dr. Šárka Houdková, Dr. Lutz-Michael Berger and Dr. Aleksandra Małachowska spoke and highlighted various aspects of thermal spraying.

Focus on additive manufacturing

A central point of the discussion was additive manufacturing, which is increasingly establishing itself as an indispensable part of industrial practice. This becomes clear not only at the event in Chemnitz, but also at the special show and specialist forum “Additive Manufacturing – Evolution of a Modern Technology”, which took place in Leipzig from March 7th to 10th, 2023. Those responsible for the Intec, Z and GrindTec trade fairs created this area to highlight current applications and future ideas in additive manufacturing. Several lectures addressed the flexible, economical and sustainable aspects of these technologies, which are important for numerous industries.

The IDAM project (Industrialization and Digitalization of Additive Manufacturing) offers an impressive example of the industrialization of these technologies. Fully automated 3D printing production lines for automotive series production were developed here, producing around 50,000 series parts and over 10,000 individual and spare parts annually using laser melting. In addition, the relevance of metallic 3D printing for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) was discussed, which illustrates the diverse possible uses of additive manufacturing.

Prizes and awards

As part of the colloquium, 13 poster contributions were also presented, which were awarded prizes during the evening event. The prizes for the best posters went to the following participants: Pratidhwani Biswal took 1st place, Robert Rimpl took 2nd place and Lukáš Václavek took 3rd place. The evening event took place at the Hotel Chemnitzer Hof and included a lecture by Dr. Barbara Waske and the final lecture by Prof. Dr. Shrikant Joshi, who discussed the technological advances in thermal spraying. Prof. Dr. Guntram Wagner warmly thanked all participants and organizers.

In the future, the organizers are already planning to hold the 25th Materials Technology Colloquium at the same location in two years. The ongoing commitment to research and technology shows how important the exchange between science and industry is. In addition, institutions such as the TU Freiberg, Chemnitz and Dresden are working in the SAMSax real-world laboratory to sustainably use waste materials from industry and agriculture for additive manufacturing in order to promote a circular economy.

For further information you can click on the content communicated by Chemnitz University of Technology, as well as reporting on additive manufacturing Autoland Saxony be referred. Additional findings are in Project report from the Fraunhofer Institute to read.