History of the institute

The Institute of Tribology and Energy Conversion Machines at Clausthal University of Technology emerged from the Department of Friction Research at the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research in Göttingen, which had its origins in the department of the same name established in 1942 at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin under the direction of Prof. Dr. Georg Vogelpohl.The department's task was to develop processes and materials that would make it possible to reduce the amount of lubricant required, save on bearing metals and reduce the energy losses caused by friction in the machines and the resulting wear.

Wartime difficulties in carrying out research activities meant that the Friction Research Department had to be relocated first to Hanover and then to Göttingen, renamed the "Friction Research Department at the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research", where work was resumed in the summer of 1946. Until the beginning of the 1970s, numerous scientific studies were carried out in the department, of which around 100 were published in the specialist literature. With its outstanding equipment of test rigs, electronic and mechanical measuring devices and machine tools, which was constantly expanded over the years, the department was a unique institution in the Federal Republic of Germany towards the end of the 1960s.

With a transfer agreement between the state of Lower Saxony and the Max Planck Society, the Friction Research Department was transferred to the Clausthal University of Technology at the beginning of the 1970s, where it continued to operate as an independent university institute for friction technology and machine kinetics. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörn Holland became head of this institute on July 1, 1972, to whom the institute owes its reputation as an important institution for teaching and research in the entire field of friction research.

In 1978, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil G. Noack was appointed Professor of the Tribology Department. Among other things, he set up the high-pressure laboratory for the investigation of fluids, which is still in operation today.

After initially being provisionally housed in various buildings at the Technical University, which made scientific work somewhat more difficult, it was possible to work under ideal conditions after the completion and inauguration of a dedicated workshop in 1982.

After the retirement of Prof. Noack in 1995, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Hans-Jörg Barth became head of the hydraulics and pneumatics department.

In April 2000, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hubert Schwarze succeeded Prof. Holland and took over the management of the institute. The name of the institute was changed to "Institute for Tribology and Energy Conversion Machines".