Prestigious award for doctoral student Examilioti

2022-07-26 Lüneburg/Funchal. Theano Examilioti has now received the ESIS-Elsevier Young Scientist Award for her publication in the field of mechanics of laser-welded joints. The doctoral student at the Institute for Product and Process Innovation at Leuphana University Lüneburg and at the University of the Aegean in Greece received the award at the 23rd European Conference on Fracture. The conference takes place every two years under the auspices of the European Structural Integrity Society (ESIS). More than 550 participants from 40 countries met on the island of Madeira this year.

Examilioti's paper on "Numerical investigation of laser beam-welded AA2198 joints under different artificial ageing conditions" improves the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of laser beam-welded joints made of the high-strength Al-Li alloy AA2198. The alloy under investigation is already used in the aerospace industry, but poses major challenges to innovative joining processes such as laser beam welding. In her work, Examilioti was able to show how defect-free laser beam welded joints can be effectively realised. She also showed how their mechanical behaviour can be modelled and optimised.

The work was done in cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre Hereon, Department of Laser Material Processing and Structure Evaluation. There, the focus is on the development of innovative laser joining processes for the realisation of lightweight structures and their integrity evaluation. Department head Dr Nikolai Kashaev is therefore also one of the supervisors of Theano Examilioti's doctoral thesis.

Examilioti's doctoral thesis is being written within the framework of a binational doctorate in the so-called co-tutelle procedure. The University of the Aegean with Professors Nikolaos Alexopoulos and Paraskevas Papanikos and the Leuphana University Lüneburg with Professor Benjamin Klusemann are involved. He is also head of the Solid Phase Materials Processing department at the Helmholtz Centre Hereon. Theano Examilioti's work makes an important contribution to research at all three participating institutions.

"The prestigious award for Ms Examilioti is also a very great success for the participating scientific institutions," Professor Klusemann is pleased to say. He says it not only recognises the successful cooperation between the Helmholtz Centre Hereon and Leuphana, but also the international cooperation at the European level.