Dr. Trauth studied mechanical and sports engineering at Chemnitz University of Technology as well as mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM) in Paris. During her doctorate in the DFG's International Research Training Group at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, she gained international experience through stays abroad in Canada. Most recently, she worked as a research assistant and academic advisor at the Chair of Hybrid Materials at the University of Augsburg. We asked Professor Trauth a few questions about her plans and research priorities at TU Darmstadt.

Why should students be interested in your topics? / What is exciting about your topics?

We encounter materials always and everywhere. As the interface between materials science and mechanics, the aim of materials mechanics is to understand the behavior of materials under different loads and to map this knowledge in models. To do this, we use experimental methods that allow us to see and hear damage long before failure occurs. We transfer this information into models that enable us to virtually design new components in order to select the optimum geometry combined with adapted manufacturing processes for a specific application. On the one hand, the variety of materials available to us today in the technical field allows us to respond better and better to special applications.

Further developments and material design are increasing the choice and, above all, hybrid materials, i.e. composite materials or material composites that combine the positive properties of different material classes, offer a wide range of possibilities. On the other hand, damage and fatigue behavior is usually very complex, so we have to develop new models to create a reliable basis for engineers in the design process. Since we cannot simulate all material combinations, component geometries and load cases in the laboratory for reasons of time and cost, virtual and data-based methods are becoming increasingly important and artificial intelligence is helping us to predict material behavior based on models. This approach forms the basis for the sustainable use of resources and makes an important contribution to the circular economy.

Interdisciplinarity is a top priority at TU Darmstadt. Where are there interfaces with other specialist areas in your field of work?

Current scientific issues are usually so complex that they can only be solved on an interdisciplinary basis. For this reason, I am very pleased to be working at an institution that attaches great importance to interdisciplinarity. In materials mechanics, there is an obvious interface with mechanics, in particular with computational mechanics and continuum mechanics, in order to transfer experimental findings into models and integrate them into the development process. Probabilistic methods are often used, especially in the area of service life assessment, so that cooperation with mathematics also plays a central role. On the other hand, materials science and materials engineering as well as process and production engineering are particularly important for understanding the relationship between process, structure and the resulting properties of a material, especially when new or complex materials and systems are being used or developed.

The experimental approaches are generally based on different, usually combined, measuring systems. Physics, measurement and sensor technology help us to integrate these into a test setup in a targeted manner. We are increasingly working together with IT to implement suitable software solutions for test control, processing and evaluating measurement data and automating test tasks. This interface in particular will become increasingly important in the coming years when it comes to setting up data-based models and transferring development processes to the virtual world using artificial intelligence methods.

The best balance to a stressful working day is …

… spending time with my family, preferably in nature. Sport also helps me to switch off after a stressful day.