VDI competition "Humand Technology 2020"

For the seventh time, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) Berlin-Brandenburg announced its young talent competition. Students and graduates could apply for one of the three "Human being and Technology 2020" prizes until 30 September. Among the many submissions was a master's thesis from the chair of Polymer-based Lightweight Design (PbL) of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg: Lucas Ost's thesis entitled "Screening and sensitivity analysis of influencing factors on the structural behavior of CFRP structures under thermomechanically coupled loading" was supervised by the chair of PbL and written at the Institute of Composite Lightweight Construction and Adaptronics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). In his work Lucas Ost investigates carbon fibre reinforced plastics already used in many areas of automotive engineering, aerospace and sports equipment. Due to their high specific stiffnesses and strengths, these enable very efficient lightweight structures, but require a load-path-compatible design and fibre orientation due to the direction-dependent material properties. Even minor faults can reduce the load-bearing capacity of components. Such disturbances can be imperfections such as deviations in geometry, dents, temperature distributions, load errors and deviations in fibre orientation. With the results of Lucas Ost the materials can be described more precisely and the stability behaviour can be better assessed. By taking the results into account in the construction and design of components, safety factors can be adjusted and thus materials and structures can be utilised more efficiently. The resulting savings in resources and weight make it possible, among other things, to comply with CO₂ limits. The results obtained thus offer great potential for the key technology of lightweight construction. This prompted the VDI jury to award Lucas Ost second place. "I was very pleased about the second place and the resulting appreciation of my work. In addition to the attractive prizes, the award ceremony offered an excellent opportunity to present my research results to a larger audience and to establish contacts. I would like to thank the VDI for this. I would like to thank Professor Holger Seidlitz and Manoja Rao Yellur for the excellent supervision of my master's thesis by PbL and Mr Martin Liebisch for the equally excellent supervision by DLR".

Lucas Ost obtained his Bachelor's degree at the Westfälische Hochschule in Bocholt and deepened the technical side in his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialisation in lightweight construction at the Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus - Senftenberg. In the numerous courses of the chair of Polymer-based Lightweight Design, Lucas Ost already showed great interest in the subject matter during his studies and achieved outstanding results. Therefore, the chair of PbL is very pleased about the decision of the former student to strengthen the team. The choice was not difficult for the new colleague, as he found the time spent studying at the BTU extremely positive. "I was always able to contact the lecturers and professors quickly and easily and ask for help with open questions. I was particularly impressed by the supervision, the content of teaching and the research topics of the polymer-based lightweight construction department. Professor Seidlitz and his staff are very good at conveying knowledge in a comprehensible and practical way. Even during my final thesis, he personally took the time to answer my questions and support me with feedback and advice. I decided to apply for a position at the chair of Polymer-based Lightweight Design because of the diverse and interesting research topics of the chair, the practical relevance of the work and the opportunity to contribute and implement my own ideas. I am very pleased that it worked out and that I was immediately accepted into the team".