Our awards

Bachelor’s, Master-‘s and Diploma theses

We are pleased to announce that Denise Schweser has been honored this year for her master’s thesis with the Wilfried-Ensinger-Award by the scientific working group of plastics technology (Wissenschaftlicher Arbeitskreis der Kunststofftechnik (WAK)). The master thesis was written under the supervision of Prof.Ruckdäschel. In her thesis, she investigated the influence of varying viscosity levels in dual-curing resin systems on the formation of Interpenetrating Networks (IPNs). The award ceremony took place in Frankfurt a.M., where the founder Klaus Ensinger presented the prize to Denise. She was accompanied by research assistant Florian Schönl, who co-supervised the Master’s thesis.

Congratulations to Denise Schweser on this well-deserved award.

Our student Janina Rebhan was awarded the REHAU Prize for Technology 2023 for her bachelor thesis on “Contribution to the investigation of the influence of chain modification of rPET/PBT blends on CO2 absorption and foamability”.

Congratulations to Janina Rebhan!

New INEOS Styrolution Award goes to University of Bayreuth student

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Altstädt (left) and Dr. Norbert Nießner at the presentation of the award to Chunjing Zhao.
(© INEOS Styrolution)
FMs Chunjing Zhao, doctoral student at Polymer Materials, is winner of the INEOS Styrolution Award. Ms Zhao received the first-ever award from the world’s leading supplier of styrenic plastics for her master’s thesis on improving the thermal insulation properties of foamed plastics, entitled: “Influences of Supramolecular Additives on the Morphology and Properties of Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Foams”.

Dr Norbert Nießner, Director Global R&D/Intellectual Property at INEOS Styrolution Group GmbH, justified the award by saying: “Ms Zhao’s work shows the construction industry a way to make the thermal insulation of buildings more effective and thus lead to energy savings. Her results may well make an important contribution to greater sustainability.”

INEOS Styrolution has been working closely with the University of Bayreuth and Neue Materialien Bayreuth GmbH in the field of styrene polymers for more than five years.

The award, which comes with prize money, was presented to the successful scientist by Dr. Norbert Nießner and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Altstädt, who supervised the award-winning work, at INEOS Styrolution’s headquarters in Frankfurt a.M. on 12 December 2018.

FSK Innovation Award Foamed Plastics and Polyurethane 2016

M.Sc. Georg Tauer

Production of particle foams with variable skin thickness and their effects on mechanical properties

WAK Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2015

M.Sc. Stefanie Bärwinkel

Foaming Janus-compatibilized PPE/SAN Blends with a Focus on their Electret Properties

Rehau-Award Technology 2013

Dipl.-Ing. Elena Kaiser

Design and commissioning of a fatigue test rig for the investigation of fibre-reinforced components

WAK Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2013

M.Sc. Christin Kühr

Development and characterisation of a particle foam based on two semi-crystalline polymers

WAK Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2012

M. Sc. Bianca Fischer

PBT integral skin foams – influence of material and process parameters on structural and mechanical properties

VDI (Association of German Engineers) junior scholar prize for polymer engineering 2012

M. Sc. Hannes Welz

D-LFT-PA66-GF: Correlation of fibre length with material fatigue

Rehau-Award 2011

M. Sc. Sabrina Kerling

Foaming of an immiscible blend system with combinations of blowing agents

VDI (Association of German Engineers) junior scholar prize for polymer engineering 2011

M. Sc. Katlen Frenzel

Investigation of the influences on fibre length and resulting properties during direct processing of LGF-PA66

Brose-Award 2008

Dipl.-Ing. Peter Gutmann

Foaming of a multiphase blend system

Oechsler-Award 2008

Dipl.-Ing. André Grübel

Improvement of the layer expansion of organically modified layer silicates in anhydride-curing epoxy resins

Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2007

Dipl.-Ing. Julius Rausch

Rheological properties and foamability of miscible and immiscible polymer blends

Rehau-Award Technology 2006

Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Göldel

Structure-property relationships of ternary (PPE/PS)/SAN blends

Rehau-Award Technology 2005

Dipl.-Ing. Jens Ackermann

Long glass fibre reinforcement in the direct compounding process

SAMPE-Innovation-Award 2005

Dipl.-Ing. Uwe Beier

High-performance fibre composite plastics from sewn preforms

VDI-Award 2005

Dipl.-Ing. Margit Harsch

H

Haptics of elastic polymers for surface applications

Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2004

Dipl.-Ing. Frank Fischer

Fatigue crack propagation behaviour of different polymer materials under different types of loading and under the influence of media

Rehau-Award Technology 2004

Dipl.-Ing. Bettina Alber

Alternative thermoplastically processable and PVC-free materials in medicine for the application area of tubing systems in infusion and dialysis

VDI-Award 2004

Dipl.-Ing. Holger Ruckdäschel

Process development for the production of thermoplastic, continuous fibre-reinforced composites by in-situ polymerisation

Doctoral thesis

WAK Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2019

Dr.-Ing. Ronak Bahrami

Fracture Mechanics of Nanostructured Polymer Blends with Janus Particles

REHAU-Award Technology 2019

Dr.-Ing. Michaela Mörl

Increasing the toughness of isotactic polypropylene by controlling morphology using 1,3,5-benzene trisamides

REHAU-Award Technology 2017

Dr.-Ing. Manuel Kempf

High-performance fibre composites in wind turbine rotor blades

Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2016

Dr.-Ing. Thomas Neumeyer

New, flame-retardant epoxy resin formulations as modern matrix systems for thermoset prepregs

Wilfried-Ensinger-Award 2009

Dr.-Ing. Holger Ruckdäschel

Micro- and Nanostructured Polymer Blends – Processing, Properties and Foaming Behaviour

Rehau-Award Technology 2008

Dr.-Ing. Dieter Langenfelder

Development of a new substrate material for electronic circuit boards based on a foamed high-temperature thermoplastic

Quadrant Award 2005

Dr. Jan K.W. Sandler

Structure-property-relationships of carbon nanotubes / nanofibres and their polymer composites

Other

FSK Innovation Award Foams 2013

Research & Development Category

Graphene as a Multifunctional Nanofiller for the Reduction of Thermal Conductivity of Extruded Polystyrene Foam

First Place, Research/Science Cetegory

Polymer Engineering, University of Bayreuth:

“Characterisation of damage mechanisms in continuous fibre reinforced thermoset composites by quantitative acoustic emission analysis”

Outstanding Paper Award 2012

Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Apeldorn

“High performance substrate based on a highly filled thermoplastic polymer”

erschienen in: Circuit World, Vol. 37, Issue 1, 2011

Business-Plan-Competition Phase I and II of Network North-Bavaria 2006

Dipl.-Phys. Dieter Langenfelder

Thermoplastic printed circuit board

Reimund-Stadler-Medal (GDCh) 2005

Dr. Jan K.W. Sandler

Work in the field of carbon nanotubes