Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,

Verbundwerkstoffe und Werkstoffverbunde beflügeln und bereichern alle wichtigen technologischen Entwicklungen unserer Zeit. Wo Einsatzgrenzen und Leistungsprofile monolithischer Werkstoffe ausgereizt erscheinen, bieten Verbundwerkstoffe und Werkstoffverbunde oft den entscheidenden Schlüssel zu verbesserten Produkten.

Vor dem Hintergrund steigender Rohstoffpreise, schwindender Ressourcen und wachsenden Kostendrucks werden auch ökonomische und ökologische Aspekte immer bedeutsamer. Die interdisziplinären Forschungs- und Entwicklungsaktivitäten erfahren einen stetigen Zuwachs und bieten insbesondere auch dem wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs ein hoch interessantes und weiter wachstumsfähiges Arbeitsgebiet.

In der Tradition dieser international bedeutenden Veranstaltungsreihe bietet das 19. Symposium Verbundwerkstoffe und Werkstoffverbunde ein Forum für Fachleute aus Hochschulen, Forschungsinstituten und Technologieunternehmen.

Das Symposium findet in der badischen Metropole Karlsruhe statt. Karlsruhe ist ein modernes Zentrum der Materialforschung und der Werkstofftechnik. Das Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Exzellenzuniversität und nationales Großforschungszentrum in einem, nimmt eine Spitzenstellung im Bereich der angewandten Materialforschung ein. Im Bereich der Verbundwerkstoffe bestehen enge Verbindungen zu den Fraunhofer-Instituten für Chemische Technologie (Pfinztal) und für Werkstoffmechanik (Freiburg). Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler dieser Einrichtungen arbeiten eng zusammen, um interdisziplinäre Aktivitäten zu bündeln und neue Forschungsthemen aufzugreifen.

Das fachliche Programm der Tagung wird ergänzt durch Institutsbesichtigungen und die Möglichkeit, die weltoffene Stadt Karlsruhe näher kennen zu lernen.

Alexander Wanner
Vorsitzender des Programmausschusses

http://www.dgm-verbund.de/kontakt/

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, biomineralization is evolving from its heyday of structural research into one of the most existing fields of biological materials science, molecular biology, biomedicine and biomimetics. The International Symposia on Biomineralization possess  over forty years of tradition. The first symposium was held in Mainz, Germany in 1970. Many highly successful symposia held in subsequent years, the most recent in Japan (2001), Chile (2005), China (2008) and Australia (2011). This is the second time the symposium has been held in Germany, and while there is a lot to live up to, this symposium promises to be another stimulating and memorable event. Freiberg (German: free mountain) is a university and mining town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany.

The Bergakademie Freiberg is one of the five leading mining schools in the German-speaking countries. It is the oldest in the world, with strong roots in tradition  that inform it as a modern centre for teaching and research. In recent times Freiberg has made a name for itself throughout Europe as both a high-tech location for micro technology and renewable energy; as well as a center for mineralogy, materials science, and solar technology. Nowadays, the modern equivalents of old Freiberg's silver are silicon and gallium arsenide.

The BIOMIN’12 international symposium aims at bringing together scientists from different backgrounds all interested in understanding  the principles of biomineralization and demineralization. Discovery of these natural principles leads to direct, practical applications in biological materials science, biomedicine, and technology. Scientific topics shall include the following: evolutionary aspects of biomineralization, molecular and genetic regulation of Calcification and Silicification from bacteria to vertebrates, pathological biomineralization and biomineral formation under extreme environmental conditions, and modern analytical methods and biomimetics.

Our symposium will host five invited keynote lectures, oral, and poster contributions. The scientific committee cordially invites you to take part in this traditional international event and looks forward to welcoming you to Freiberg.

Hermann Ehrlich
Conference chair

http://www.biomin2013.de/

http://icsaam2013.upatras.gr/home.html

Intelligent materials with integrated functionalities are required to make devices more energy efficient, autonomous, self-responding, switchable, biocompatible, and anti-bacterial. They are also integrated into novel sensor and actuator devices with significantly increased sensitivity. Such intelligent materials typically have a complex internal structure: they can be composites from different material classes like multiferroics. They might be nanostructured or hierarchically built-up, they could be bio-inspired and possess functional elements ranging from single molecules to the macro-scale.

All those materials and their design and development has to be accompanied by high-resolution analytical tools that are able to characterize the materials on all scales and, moreover, to track and reveal their function-structure relations in situ. The symposium will bring together experts in the field of intelligent materials in order to present and discuss recent developments and detect future trends. The symposium will be a forum to get in contact with international key researchers and stimulate new collaborations for developing novel intelligent material systems, characterizing their functionality from molecular mechanisms to applications.

http://www.intelligent-materials.de/

Dear colleagues,

We hereby invite your participation to the 12th PAT conference to be held in Berlin, Germany on 29/9/13–2/10/13. We anticipate a full and exciting program under the motto From Macromolecules to Materials to Systems with provisions for over 400 participants in a stimulating environment. Abstract submissions are welcome for those wishing to contribute scientifically to our large poster session or oral presentations. Oral contributions will include six plenary lectures from highly distinguished guests, 52 invited speakers, and several shorter oral presentations spread over specialized sessions for particular subject areas. 
PAT conferences are organized under auspices of the Polymers for Advanced Technologies journal in response to recent significant changes in the patterns of materials research and development.

Worldwide attention has been focused on the critical importance of materials in the creation of new devices and systems. It is now recognized that materials are often the limiting factor in bringing a new technical concept to fruition and that polymers are often the materials of choice in these demanding applications. A significant portion of the polymer research ongoing in the world is directly or indirectly related to complex, interdisciplinary problems whose successful solution is necessary for achievement of broad system objectives. The versatility of polymeric materials originates from the broad variety in their chemical structure and in their hierarchical organization as well as from the possibility to realize a wide spectrum of functions. Often such functions result from a combination of a molecular architecture/morphology with a physical process and therefore require integration in a suitable system or environment.
The first PAT conference took place in Jerusalem in 1987, the following were held in: Oxford (1993), Pisa (1995), Leipzig (1997), Tokyo (1999), Eilat (2001), Fort Lauderdale (2003), Budapest (2005), Shanghai (2007), Jerusalem (2009), and Lodz (2011). 

We invite you to come to Berlin to PAT 2013, as the German capital will serve as a prominent location with a high density of scientific and industrial activities in polymer research and teaching, both university as well as non-university. Offering the opportunity for scientists and experts in the fields of polymer oriented materials to gather in order to communicate their latest state-of-the-art findings in a multi-disciplinary environment, Berlin will also provide an exciting venue for the conference.

I very much look forward to welcoming you in Berlin for this year’s meeting.

Andreas Lendlein 
(Conference chairman)

http://www.pat-congress.org/

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is our great pleasure to invite you to attend the upcoming Conference Intermetallics 2013, scheduled from 30 September–04 October, 2013 at the Educational Center Kloster Banz, Germany.
Facing an increasing demand for new materials with improved properties, intermetallic-based materials offer a promising perspective. A possible combination of high strength, low density and good corrosion resistance qualifies them for structural applications, specifically at high temperatures and in severe environments. As some intermetallic phases show unique properties like shape memory and thermo electric effects or have appealing magnetic properties they are also of interest for various functional applications. While Intermetallics today are well accepted as shape memory alloys they are only now – after three decades of exhaustive research and development – used for structural applications, i.e. in flying gas turbines.
The choice of local organisers and members of the international advisory board guarantees not only representation of all relevant topics but also a good balance between research and application. Topics of general importance will be dealt with in a single session in the morning, while current materials, such as γ-TiAl, iron aluminides, silicides or NiTi-shape memory alloys, or certain aspects of intermetallics will be the subject of two specialised parallel sessions in the afternoon. A special topical session will be devoted to powder metallurgical (PM) techniques that are currently employed for processing intermetallic-based materials. A high-profile poster session will be rounding off the conference.
The conference will take place at Kloster Banz near Bamberg. The cloister is situated in a remote place above the valley of the river Main. As a well-known educational centre it is an ideal place for conferences with its good infrastructure and relaxing atmosphere. In addition, being situated in the central part of Germany, it is easily accessible from Nuremberg and Frankfurt airports.

We are looking forward to your participation and would be delighted 
to meet you in Banz,

Your Intermetallics 2013 Congress Office

http://www.dgm-intermetallics.de/