5th Young Tribological Researcher Symposium (YTRS)
For two long pandemic years, our personal and professional lives as well as academic exchanges were dominated by restrictions, without the important face-to-face exchanges, conversations, or pleasant discussions during lunch breaks or at the conference dinner. Therefore, after a cancelled year and a year with an online format, it was even nicer that the 5th Young Tribological Researcher Symposium (YTRS) could take place again in a partially presential (hybrid) format. This combined the advantages of both, providing plenty of space for face-to-face exchange under safe conditions with a hygiene concept, while also allowing virtual access and maximum flexibility. Thus, under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Martin Dienwiebel, the symposium at the MikroTribologie Center μTC in Karlsruhe at the 21st and 22nd of June 2022 offered young researchers from all over the world a platform to present their new topics and ideas or ongoing research projects. With a total of almost 30 presentations, the symposium featured the largest program in its history as well as a diverse range of topics with talks ranging from molecular dynamics simulation to the investigation of entire powertrains. The roughly 50 participants were able to discuss the various topics following the presentations as well as during the coffee breaks or lunch. With his contribution “Biotribological screening of amorphous carbon coatings on hard-on-soft pairings for total knee arthroplasty”, Kevin Neusser from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg defended the prize for the best presentation after audience voting. The presentations were flanked by an informative seminar by Prof. Dr. Martin Dienwiebel on the “Rocky trail to superlubricity”, an interesting excursion to IAVF Antriebstechnik GmbH and an evening event in a relaxed atmosphere. We, the Young Tribologists, thank all attendees for their participation and especially our sponsors Fraunhofer MikroTribologie Centrum μTC, IAVF Antriebstechnik GmbH, Bechem Lubrication Technologies, Optimol Instruments and Innowep GmbH for their support of the YTRS!
