New Executive Committee member Reiner Fechte-Heinen
01. Feb 2024
Prof. Dr. Fechte-Heinen is Chairman of the Board of Directors of our member institute Leibniz - IWT in Bremen, Germany, and is professor of materials technology at the University of Bremen. He studied mechanical engineering in Bochum, Seville, and Berkeley. Subsequently he took his Ph.D. in Bochum and became a honorary professor there. For 13 years he held various R&D positions at thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG, and in 2020 he took his position at IWT in succession of IFHTSE Fellow and former IFHTSE President Hans-Werner Zoch. IWT was a seedbed for the formation of our Federation. From the fifties of the past century on, IWT initiated meetings and cooperations which led to the founding of IFHTSE in 1972.
Prof. Dr. Fechte-Heinen completed his studies of mechanical engineering from 2000 to 2004 with the main focus on materials simulation and mechanics in Bochum (Germany), Seville (Spain) and Berkeley (USA). In 2007, he completed his doctorate at the Ruhr University of Bochum on the subject of simulating martensitic phase transfor-mations in shape memory alloys. He then worked part-time on his habilitation, gave his own lectures continuously since 2009, and was appointed as a Privatdozent at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 2014 and honorary professor of materials mechanics of phase transformations in solids in 2018.
From 2007 to 2020 Prof. Dr. Fechte-Heinen held various positions at thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG in the materials competency center and in research and development. He was responsible among other things for optimization projects for existing steels and their production systems, the development of innovative functional materials, idea generation and validation, and IP management. Before joining Leibniz-IWT, he was head of product development with a focus on hardened, tempered and multiphase hot-rolled steel products.
IWT has been a stronghold of IFHTSE troughout the existence of our Federation and even before. The foundation of the institute dates back to the 40ties, with our German member association AWT being one of the donators. The first director Otto Schaaber initiated the first truly multinational discussion on heat treatment as early as 1955, which subsequently lead to regular international conferences and, to form a responsible body to hold them, the foundation of IFHTSE in 1972. All IWT directors served as IFHTSE presidents: Otto Schaaber 1975-76, IFHTSE Fellow Hans-Peter Mayr 1996-97, and IFHTSE Fellow Hans-Werner Zoch 2010-11.