Preliminary Congress Program HK · IFHTSE · ECHT · Steel Innovation 2026
Preliminary program – subject to change
Tuesday, 13 October 2026
| Opening and honours- Room Offenbach | ||||
| 09:00 - 09:10 | Welcome - Thomas Waldenmaier, Chairman of AWT, Lesley Frame, IFHTSE President | |||
| 09:10 - 09:20 | Stefan Hock, Secretary General of IFHTSE — Welcome of the invited persons IFHTSE | |||
| 09:20 - 09:40 | Stefan Hock — Laudation and Awarding of the IFHTSE Honorary Presidency and Vice Presidency | |||
| 09:40 - 09:50 | Marcel Somers — Laudation Awarding the IFHTSE- Medal to Sabine Denis | |||
| 09:50 - 10:35 | IFHTSE Medals awardee lecture Sabine Denis - Coupled thermal-phase transformation-stress models for the prediction of residual stresses and distortions in heat treatment of metallic alloys |
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| 10:35 - 10:55 | Break | |||
| Thermochemical Heat Treatment I - Room Offenbach | Sustainability I - Room Europa | Aluminum & Light Alloys - Room 4 | Steel Innovation - Steel Design Room 5 | |
| 10:55 - 11:20 | Kenta Tsujii Effect of Total Pressure on NH₃ Decomposition During Carbonitriding, Daido Steel Co., Ltd., Nagoya, Japan |
Martin Hellwig Decarbonizing Heat Treatment Through Intelligent Energy Scheduling, Hochschule Rhein-Waal, Germany |
Huang Hung-Yeh The Influence of Solutions Treatment Process on the Microstructure and Hardness of A20X Alloy, Department of Material Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan |
Ahmet Kalac A progress on bainitizing sheet hot stamping, Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering, Bremen, German |
| 11:20 - 11:45 | Kazuki Kawata Comparison of characteristics of gas nitrocarburizing with and without subsequent sulfonitriding or oxidation, Kawata PE Office, Saitama, Japan |
Sven Haglund Decreased CO2 Emissions by Adjusting CO2 Concentration During Heat Treatment, Swerim AB, Sweden |
Gilar Pandu Annanto Comparative Study of T4, T6, and T8 Heat Treatments on Hardness of A20X Alloy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan |
Ulrich Krupp The effect of tramp elements on the phase transformation behaviour of industrial low- and medium carbon steels, IEHK - Institut für Eisenhüttenkunde, RWTH Aachen University, Germany |
| 11:45 - 12:10 | Thomas Wingens Closing the Rare Earth Loop: Hydrogen Processing, Advanced Sintering, and Computational Design for Domestic NdFeB Magnet Manufacturing, WINGENS CONSULTANTS, U.S.A. |
Paulina Kus Dynamic evaluation of carbon footprint in continuous heat treatment furnaces and methods to reduce part carbon intensity, Air Products PLC, United Kingdom |
Chou Ming Wei The influence of Ag on microstructure and mechanical properties for A20X Alloy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan |
Manuel Gathmann Upscaling of high modulus steels for high performance lightweight applications, Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany |
| 12:10 - 13:40 | Lunchbreak | |||
| Thermochemical Heat Treatment II | Sustainability II | Quality Control | Steel Innovation - Microstructure Evolution | |
| 13:40 - 14:05 | Luis Carrillo Effect of Pre-Heat Treatment on Final Austenite Grain Size After Carburizing Microalloyed Steels, Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado, U.S.A. |
Florian Pasch Using energy intelligently: efficient cleaning concepts for heat treatment, vapic GmbH, Germany |
Hedieh Hosseini The Effect of Microstructure and Hardness of 100Cr6 on Eddy Current Signals, ibg Prüfcomputer GmbH, Germany |
Chih Yuan Chen Effect of Nitrogen Content on Tempering Behavior and Microstructural Development of Cr–Mo–V Hot-Work Die Steel, Graduate Institute of Intellectual Property, Taipei, Taiwan |
| 14:05 - 14:30 | Julius Möller Microstructure‑Aware Case Hardening Simulation Using a Grain‑Size‑Dependent Approach, Robert Bosch GmbH, Corporate Sector Research and Advance Engineering |
Lorenzo Antonioli Energy-efficient tempering strategies for carbon?neutral 36CTR4 quenched and tempered steel, University of Ferrara, Department of Engineering (DE), Italy |
Michael Maaß Barkhausen Noise Analysis (BNA) for hardness control and heat treatment verification, a reliable and reproducible non-destructive testing method, Stresstech GmbH, Germany |
Sergey Guk Controlling pearlite banding via tailored spheroidization: A key to optimized forming behavior, Institute of Metal Forming, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany |
| 14:30 - 14:55 | Matthias Steinbacher Internal Oxidation Effects in Case Hardening: Fundamentals, Atmospheric Influences, and the Impact of Quenching on the Formation of the Internal Oxidation Zone, Leibniz-Institut für Werkstofforientierte Technologien, Germany |
Joachim G. Wünning Hydrogen Burners with Integrated Fuel and Air Preheating, WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH, Germany |
Wolfgang Haderer Non Destructive Tomographic Imaging of Surface Hardening Depth by Laser Ultrasound, Research Center for Non-Destructive Testing GmbH - RECENDT, Austria |
Niki Nouri Modeling Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) Caused by Precipitation During Aging of Maraging Steels: A Novel Predictive Method, Institute for Applied Materials – Materials Science and Engineering, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany |
| 14:55 - 15:15 | Break | |||
| Thermochemical Heat Treatment III | Furnace Technology | Quality control | Steel Innovation - Additive Manufacturing | |
| 15:15 - 15:40 | Alina Kosmehl Investigation of Plasma Nitrocarburizing of 318L Duplex Steel Using a Solid Carbon Precursor, Institute of Materials Engineering, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany |
Davide Zacchetti Improving Productivity and Energy Efficiency in Vacuum Furnaces Through Synergy Between Process and Equipment Design, TAV Vacuum Furnaces, Italy |
Kizil Ünsal Carbonaceous Residue Formation during Low-Pressure Carburizing: An Industrial Perspective on Surface Contamination and its Effects, Bosch Sanayi ve Tic. A. s., Turkey |
Basit Ali Influence of Chromium Nitride Additions on the Microstructure of Additively Manufactured 17-4 PH Stainless Steel, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Civil & Mechanical Engineering, Produktionstorvet, Lynby, Denmark |
| 15:40- 16:05 | Quentin Roques Layer formation, growth kinetics and surface strenghtening on low potential gas nitriding of a carburized steel, École nationale supérieur des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM), Mechanics Surface and Materials Processing laboratory (MSMP), Safran Transmission System, Safran Aircraft Engine, Aix-en-Provence, France |
Marc Devienne Perspectives of nitriding applications within modular furnaces: energy benefits, performance & challenges, ECM Technologies, France |
Kristina Lindgren Nitrocarburized components – Nanodiffraction in combination with indentation for assessing mechanical performance, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Sweden |
Pedro José de Castro Tuning the austenite stability of additively manufactured medium manganese steel, Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering, IWT Bremen, Germany |
| 16:05 - 16:30 | Masahiro Okumiya Surface Hardening Heat Treatment of Steel Using Plasma Austenitic Nitriding and Quenching, Toyota Technological Institute, Japan |
Akio Nishimoto Effect of Screen Material and Open Area Ratio on Nitrogen Diffusion during Screen-Assisted Plasma Nitriding of SUS430, Department of Chemistry and Material Engineering, Kansai University, Japan |
Sébastien Jégou (De-)Nitriding of iron for nitrogen quantification using HR-µLIBS, Arts et Métier - MSMP Laboratory, France |
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| 16:30 - 16:50 | Break | |||
| Thermochemical Heat Treatment IV | Laser Treatment | AI & Digitalization | Steel Innovation - Materials Engineering | |
| 16:50 - 17:15 | Steffen Scherbring High-Temperature Solution Nitriding of Al-Alloyed Stainless Steels: Process Window and Nitride/Oxide Surface Architectures, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany |
Marko Seifert Laser hardening of large components with laser power in the multi-10kW range, Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS, Germany |
Neven Tomaši From Alloy Composition to Hardness Distribution in Quenched Steels: A Hybrid Data-Driven and Control-Volume Simulation Approach, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Engineering Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Croatia |
Muthu Mathialigan Multiscale Investigation of Copper-Induced Hot Shortness and Its Impact on Defect Formation and Fatigue Life in Recycled Steel Grades, IEHK, RWTH Aachen University, Germany |
| 17:15 - 17:40 | Kenzo Sumiya Thickness and Mechanical Properties of S-phase Formed in Small Thin Rolled Stainless Steel Plates by Active-Screen Plasma Nitriding, Hatta Kogyo Co. Ltd, Japan |
Qunli Zhang Microstructural regulation research of laser hybrid solid-state phase transformation, Zhejiang University of Technology, China |
Felix Thonagel Semantifying Heat Treatment Processes and Data with the Heat Treatment Ontology, Leibniz-Institute for Materials Engineering IWT Bremen, Germany |
Jianfeng Gu Development Progress of Virtual Intelligent Design System for Heat Treatment in China, Institute of Materials Modification and Modeling, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China |
| 17:40 - 18:05 | Susanne Gerritsen Influence of Low Temperature Carburising on the corrosion properties of stainless steels, Bodycote Specialist Technologies GmbH, Landsberg, Germany |
Yves Johannes Barth Tooth Root Load Carrying Capacity of Laser Hardened Gears , Technical University of Munich, Gear Research Center, Germany |
Jens Christoffel Process Monitoring in Parts Cleaning in the Era of Industry 4.0, SAFECHEM Europe GmbH, Germany |
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| 19:00 | Meeting Point infront of the Cologne Cathedral for visiting the Früh brewery (not included in the conference fee) | |||
Wednesday, 14 October 2026
| Room Offenbach | ||||
| 09:00 - 09:05 | Thomas Waldenmaier — Announcement of the Adolf-Martens-Medal | |||
| 09:05 - 09:15 | Laudation to Marcel Somers | |||
| 09:15 - 10:00 | Adolf-Martens-Medal awardee lecture Marcel Somers - The pivotal role of nitrogen in exploring and exploiting heat treatment and surface engineering; from nitriding to cryogenic treatment |
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| 10:00 - 10:30 | Break | |||
| 10:30 - 12:00 | Plenary discussion: Models and Applications of AI Tools in Material Science and Heat Treatment Moderation: Karl-Michael Winter (Nitrex Inc., Canada) Participants: Lukas Fischer (QATM Qness GmbH, Austria), Oliver Schauerte (Volkswagen AG, Germany), |
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| 12:00 - 13:30 | Lunch Break - Poster Session | |||
| Quenching and Distortion I - Room Offenbach | Thermochemical Heat Treatment - Room Europa | Tempering / Cryogenic - Room 4 | Steel Innovation - Surface Treatments - Room 5 | |
| 13:30 - 13:55 | Rainer Braun Modern quenching oils for low-pressure carburizing processes – requirements, properties, applications, Burgdorf GmbH & Co. KG, Germany |
Suraya Binti Amad Mazni Microstructural evolution and nanoscale characterization of the S?phase, Smart Manufacturing Research Institute, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia |
Zachary Menard Respecting Physical Structure in Heat Treatment Machine Learning: An Invariance-Constrained Study of Tempering, Vanderbilt University, HRC Digital, U.S.A. |
Yurii Kotsun Influence of Diamond Burnishing on the Surface Layer Modification of Hard Turned Bainitic Components, Leibniz-Institut für Werkstofforientierte Technologien - IWT, Bremen, Germany |
| 13:55 - 14:20 | Sebastian Kozdron Sustainable solutions and innovations related with heat?treatment fluids, Quaker Houghton, Germany |
Louise M. Garnier Porosity formation during nitriding of iron revisited, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark |
Francesco Sordetti Optimization of quenching and tempering heat treatment parameters in LPBF-produced 9%Cr ferritic-martensitic steel, University of Udine, Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture, Udine, Italy |
Karen Pantleon Extreme hardness through sustainable electroplating: The capabilities of iron-carbon coatings, Technical University of Denmark, Dept. of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Lingby, Denmark |
| 14:20 - 14:45 | Scott MacKenzie Jominy revisited: calculation of heat transfer coefficients, Air Flow Sciences, Quaker Houghton, U.S.A. |
Bo Wang Correlation between nitrogen content and corrosion resistance in graded nitrogen-containing austenitic stainless steel, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Special Steel, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, China |
Gabriel Ebner Carbo-austempering of new high-silicon case-hardening steels, Leibniz-Institute for Materials Engineering IWT Bremen, Germany |
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| 14:45 - 15:05 | Break | |||
| Quenching and Distortion II | Simulation & Modelling | Fatigue & Bainite | Steel Innovation - Processes | |
| 15:05 - 15:30 | Jason Meyer Effect of Phase Transformations on Distortion and Residual Stress in Welded Joints, DANTE Solutions, Inc, USA |
Karl-Michael Winter Steel Properties from Ion Geometry: The Ion Volume Model (IVM) as a Physically Transparent Framework for Phase Transformation, Hardenability, and Tempering Behavior — from Practice to Theory and Back —, Aichelin Group, Nitrex Inc. UPC Marathon, Germany, Canada |
Mitchell Shields Microstructural Influence on the Low Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Carbide Free Bainite, Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, U.S.A. |
Medard Turyasingura Ammonia-Based Direct Reduction of Natural Hematite, Makerere University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, Kampala, Uganda |
| 15:30 - 15:55 | Frederico Martinez-Guerrero Improvement of Dimensional Repeatability in Hardened Tubular Stabilizer Bars Through Coupled Individual Conductive Heating and Constraint-Assisted Quenching, Martzingenieurbuero, San Luis Potosi, Mexico |
Sacha El Aouad Numerical Prediction of Heat Treatment in Gears through CFD-Mechanical Coupling, Sciences Computers Consultants, France |
Johanna Eisenträger Experimental and Simulative Analysis of Structural Fatigue in Induction-Hardened Slewing Bearings for Service Life Prediction and Potential Material Optimization, Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering IWT Bremen, Germany |
Vania Rodriguez Herrejon Enabling circular economy in high-speed steels through spray forming, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark |
| 15:55 - 16:20 | Amandine Cardon CFD simulation of an industrial case of air quenching, Safran Tech, France |
Johan Wendel Gas quenching and modelling of steel components, Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Sweden |
Daniel Acevedo Reyes Enhancement of Impact Toughness in Bainitic Steels through Optimized Post-Forging Cooling Conditions, Acciaierie Bertoli Safau (ABS) Centre Métallurgique, France |
Katja Fritzsche Resistance Heating Alloys for Modern Heat Treatment, BGH Edelstahlwerke GmbH, Freital, Germany |
| 16:20 - 16:40 | Break | |||
| Quenching and Distortion III | AI & Digitalization | Materials & Surface Engineering | Steel Innovation - Technological Properties | |
| 16:40 - 17:05 | Nathan Dixon Simulation and validation of a multi-physics model for through-thickness microstructure evolution using high-pressure vacuum gas quenching technology, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, UK |
Jessica Schneider Ground truth in metallographic analysis: challenges for the development and evaluation of AI-based microstructure analysis in heat-treatment applications, MiViA GmbH, Germany |
Yulin Ju Process and microstructure optimisation for performance-enhanced medium carbon alloy steels, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, UK |
Fabian Weber Innovative materials testing as a driver for implementing R-strategies to increase sustainability and resource efficiency, Department of Materials Science & Materials Testing at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, Germany |
| 17:05 - 17:30 | Tsuyoshi Sugimoto Simulation of heat-treatment deformation due to effect of pre-achining condition, National Institute of Technology, Asahikawa College, Japan |
Patricia Razafimahefa Nitriding treatment of structural steels: AI-based modeling, MSMP Laboratory, France |
Moa Bertling Resource efficient low series production of low alloy steel parts, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, Sweden |
Anne Veronika Boehm Wear-resistant tool steels – from alloy design to industrial validation, Leibniz-Istitute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW), Germany |
| 17:30 - 17:55 | Hayato Ikeda Improving heat?treatment deformation prediction accuracy for the inner-diameter spline of CVJ inner races via simulation technology, AIKOKU ALPHA Co., Ltd., Japan |
Janusz Kowalewski Practical adaptation of artificial-intelligence tools in heat treatment, Ipsen USA, U.S.A. |
Phyllis Ndugire Cooling behaviour using thermal form factors at geometric notches in rotationally symmetric machine elements for martensitic hardening steels, Faculty of Technology & Bionics, Hochschule Rhein-Waal, Germany |
Daniel David Influence of self-tempering on the impact toughness of an air hardening steel, FH OÖ Forschungs & Entwicklungs GmbH, Austria |
| 18:00 - 22:00 | Conference Gala - Awarding of Karl-Wilhelm-Burgdorf-Price - Announcement Poster Competition | |||
Thursday, 15 October 2026
| Room Offenbach | ||||
| 09:00 - 09:10 | Thomas Waldenmaier — Awarding of the Paul-Riebensahm-Price 2025 to Yves Johannes Barth | |||
| 09:10 - 09:50 | Keynote Lecutre: Evgeniya Kabliman - Digitalization and its Role in Materials Engineering | |||
| 09:50 - 10:30 | Keynote lecture: Thomas Christiansen - Metal Additive Manufacturing: A Pre-Processing Step for Heat Treatment and Thermochemical Surface Engineering | |||
| 10:30 - 11:00 | Break | |||
| Additive Manufacturing I - Room Offenbach | Materials - Room Europa | Surface Engineering - Room 4 | ||
| 11:00 - 11:25 | Marco Bona Mechanical Performance of LPBF?Processed Aluminium Composites: Effects of Heat Treatment and Microstructural Evolution, Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, Politecnico di Milano, Italy |
Benjamin Milkereit On the precipitation and transformation kinetics of precipitation-hardening steel X5CrNiCuNb16 4 in a wide range of heating and cooling rates, Department LL&M, University of Rostock, Germany |
Stefan Haas Application-Driven Coating Design for Molds and Dies, RÜBIG GmbH & Co KG, Austria |
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| 11:25 - 11:50 | Niki Picco Fatigue Behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V Produced by SLM and EBM: Influence of Material, Università di Udine, Dipartimento Politecnico di Ingegneria ed Architettura, Italy |
Masahiro Okumiya Reducing CO2 Emissions in Gas Carburizing Using Carbinization, Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya Japan |
Benjamin Dollhofer Warm peening at tempering temperature and its effect on the residual stress depth profile, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany |
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| 11:50 - 12:15 | Giovanni Coderani Effect of Post-Processing Heat Treatments on the Mechanical Performance of Additively Manufactured AISI 316Ti, University of Udine, Polytechnic Department of Engineering and Architecture, Italy |
Asma Teghri Comparative Analysis of Cast and Wrought Duplex Stainless Steels (UNS S32205 vs. UNS S32750): Microstructure Evolution, Secondary Phase Precipitation, and Corrosion Performance, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padua, Italy |
Anke Dalke A Universal Platform for Plasma Nitrocarburizing: Decoupled Carbon Control and Surface Modification of Stainless and QT Steels, Institute of Materials Engineering, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany |
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| 12:15 - 13:30 | Lunch Break | |||
| Additive Manufacturing II | Carburizing / Cryogenic | Challenges and Perspectives | ||
| 13:30 - 13:55 | Massimo Pelizarri Post Heat Treatment of H13 Tool Steel Repaired by Direct Energy Deposition Using a Lean‑Hot‑Work‑Tool‑Steel, University of Trento, Italy |
Varol Özgür Zühre |
Christine Tränkner Same process, same results? – Ensuring reproducibility in (inductive) heat treatment, ITG Induktionsanlagen GmbH , Germany |
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| 13:55 - 14:20 | Kenji Doi Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of High-Silicon Stainless Steel Fabricated via Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Osaka Yakin Kogyo Co., Ltd., Japan |
Daniel Fuchs Impact of Grain Size on the Tooth Root Load Carrying Capacity of Case-Hardened, unpeened Gears with a regular Degree of Cleanliness, Technical University of Munich - Institute of Machine Elements - Gear Research Center (FZG), Germany |
Stefanie Spitz An Overlooked Alternative for High-Hardness and Wear-Resistant Surfaces: Boriding, Durferrit GmbH, Germany |
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| 14:20 - 14:45 | Yuvaraj Ganpati Patil Precipitation Evolution and Recrystallisation Behaviour in Non?Isothermally Heat-Treated Al-Mg-Sc-Zr Alloy Processed by Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Chair of Materials Science and Testing (LMW), Institute for Materials Engineering, School of Science and Technology, University of Siegen, Germany |
Boja Podgornik Potential of Cycling Deep Cryogenic Treatment in Optimizing Properties of Cold?Work Tool Steels, Institute of Metals and Technology, Slovenia |
Koichiro Nambu Effect of Divergent Nozzle Geometry on Particle Velocity and Peening Performance in Fine Particle Peening, Ritsumeikan University, Japan |
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| 14:45 - 15:00 | Room Offenbach - Closing Ceremony, Announcement of the winners of the Paul-Riebensahm-Price and the Tom Bell Young Author Award, Announcement of ECHT/IFHTSE World Congress 2027, Announcement of HK 2027 | |||