4th Young Tribological Researcher Symposium (YTRS)
The “Young Tribological Researcher Symposium” (YTRS) is based on the idea to offer young tribologists the opportunity to get in contact with other young researchers from industry and academia in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The aim is to reduce any inhibitions in building up an own network or presenting in a professional way, which should also contribute to the preparation for big conferences. To this end, three annual symposia have so far been held at different locations (IMKT Hannover, TU Berlin, AC2T research GmbH in Wiener Neustadt). The symposia have always been organized on two consecutive days with a program consisting of a plenary session, various technical sessions, laboratory tours and, in some cases, educational seminars. After no symposium could be held in 2020 due to the corona pandemic, the exchange of young tribological researchers took place this year within the “4th Young Tribological Researcher Symposium” on the 7th and 8th of July 2021 online using the Zoom platforms. The event was organized by Rebekka Drafz, László Katona, Dennis Mallach and Max Marian. After a welcome by Rebekka Drafz as well as Prof. Dr.-Ing. Adrian Rienäcker, who took over this year’s patronage and first presented the research activities of his Institute for Drive and Vehicle Technology (iaf) at the University of Kassel. Afterwards, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Adrian Rienäcker led through the event with a total of 9 exciting lectures together and in alternation with Max Marian. Following the presentations, the roughly 30 participants had the opportunity to discuss the various topics. These covered a wide range of tribological areas from fundamental research to applications, from simulations at the nanoscale to experimental investigations. With his presentation on the biotribological behavior of amorphous carbon films on Co28Cr6Mo and UHMWPE under boundary friction conditions in sliding contact, Kevin Neusser from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg won the prize for the best presentation after voting by the audience. This granted him a wildcard for the 62nd GfT Tribology Conference 2021.