Together, Ruhr University Bochum and TU Dortmund University have successfully convinced the Committee of Experts in the Excellence Strategy: Their strategic partnership within the Ruhr Innovation Lab has been awarded funding as a Consortium of Excellence, placing it among the top 15 institutions in the German academic landscape. Having previously secured a total of three Clusters of Excellence, the two universities were eligible to participate in the top-class competition for research in Germany.

The DFG Research Group FOR 5620 took part in the international Materials Science and Engineering Congress (MSE 2026) in Darmstadt from September 29 to October 1, 2026. In their own session, “Simulation-Based Design and Additive Manufacturing of Load-Optimized Components,” the researchers presented current results on simulation-supported design and manufacturing of load-optimized components using wire-based laser additive manufacturing (DED-LB/M).

The focus was, among other things, on modeling and controlling the manufacturing process, the development of microstructures and properties, as well as simulation-supported process management. Besides the technical presentations, the MSE offered plenty of opportunities for interesting conversations and intensive exchanges with researchers and industry representatives. We thank everyone for the many exciting discussions and new ideas!

At the MSE conference 2026 in Darmstadt, Dr. Felix Großwendt presented results on the local phase stability of 1.4404 after DED manufacturing, which were developed within the DFG research group FOR5620. He correlated these with the process-related and component-specific thermal history and was able to show that the material properties can differ substantially compared to a conventionally manufactured stock of the same composition.