Institute of Mineral Engineering / Institut für Gesteinshüttenkunde (GHI) - RWTH Aachen University

The Institute of Mineral Engineering (GHI) houses two independently operating, but well-networked chairs under its roof: the Chair of Ceramics (Professor Jesus Gonzalez-Julian) and the Chair of Glass and Glass-Ceramics (Professor Christian Roos). The institute is alternately run by the two chair holders. Currently, the institute's director is Professor Roos. Details about the teaching areas of the respective chairs can be found in the individual pages of the chairs on the institutes website. However, it is characteristic of the institute that both material and processing research make up the portfolio. Ceramics and glasses differ fundamentally in some respects; But at the same time they also show significant similarities. While the term "ceramics" actually characterizes a large group of materials, the term "glass" in the deeper, scientific sense rather refers to an aggregate state of condensed matter. However, both - now collectively referred to as materials - are indispensable for innovative developments in, for example, communications technology, medicine, energy technology and modern mobility applications. Likewise, glass and ceramics go hand in hand in many process areas, for example, when refractory linings in furnaces are adapted to the corresponding molten glass. In composites, ceramics and glasses can be linked together in a strategic, functional manner and, finally, as glass-ceramics, even intrinsically for a wide variety of applications, such as high strength, high temperature or bioactive materials. And last but not least important, both ceramics and glasses often have to be produced in energy-intensive processes and thus have to face the same challenges in terms of energy savings and CO2 reduction. At the Institute of Mineral Engineering, all possible synergies resulting from these similarities are used in a strategic way.