Specializations - Materials and Manufacturing Engineering

Specializations

Materials and Manufacturing Engineering covers two specializations: Materials Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering. The respective courses and the study plan ensure that both areas are integrated and that the final competences reflect the combination of both materials engineering and manufacturing engineering.

Specialisation Materials Engineering

The discipline Materials Engineering focuses on the development and optimization of new materials for advanced applications in high-tech products - whether it is for macroscopic constructions, like in the aerospace industry, or for miniature components, like for microelectronics or medical devices. The internal structure of materials is the key for developing products with improved functional or structural properties and enhanced performance during operation. Materials characterization and modelling (on the nano- and micro-scale) is crucial for the identification and interpretation of the material's internal structure in relation to mechanical, thermal and chemical influences. Understanding of the relevant parameters for metals and alloys, polymer materials as well as ceramics allows tailoring their internal structure and associated properties. Materials Engineering also implies dedicated surface engineering to improve, for example, the wear and corrosion resistance and, thus, to extend the lifetime of products during service.

Specialisation Manufacturing Engineering

The discipline Manufacturing Engineering deals with the mechanical, thermal, physical and chemical processes constituting the manufacture of high-tech products - including design, fabrication, joining and post-processing. All processing stages within the chain of fabricating products, constructions and components are gathered under this discipline. Manufacturing Engineering particularly focuses on the development of advanced technologies, for example in additive manufacturing as well as the fabrication of microcomponents based on metallic or polymer materials. It also deals with product engineering, design for manufacturing, as well as the analysis and optimization of process chains and production systems from micro- to macro-scale. The focus is on Industry 4.0, in which process characterization and process modelling, data analytics, measurement techniques and quality assurance, are an integral part of Manufacturing Engineering, also in the interplay with Materials Engineering.

The MSc programme of Materials and Manufacturing Engineering provides a unique integration of both specializations: innovative technologies that revolutionize the manufacturing sector and are associated with materials challenges, as well as the development of new materials that may necessitate novel manufacturing strategies. Sustainability aspects are highly considered in both specializations.

Specializations are merely recommended ways of choosing the courses in the curriculum. Applicants are not admitted to a specialization but to the programme and it is possible to choose among all the courses in the curriculum following the directions given. However, if a specialization has been fulfilled the title of the specialization may be added to the diploma.