Dr. Benedikt Distl awarded with Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding young scientists

The Max Planck Society awarded Dr. Benedikt Distl, former PhD researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, with the Otto Hahn Medal. The medal honors young researchers’ scientific accomplishments in their PhD thesis and is endowed with 7500 Euros.

Distl’s dissertation on Titanium aluminide alloys was awarded due to its high relevance and the significant new insights gained. TiAI-based alloys are a lighter and thus more fuel-efficient alternative to Nickel-based alloys currently used in airplane turbines. TiAl-based alloys are already used in the low-pressure parts of current turbines with temperatures of up to 700℃. In the combustion area of the engine, where temperatures rise up to 1000℃ and more, TiAI-based alloys cannot yet be used,because in this temperature range phases important for the high-temperature mechanical properties of the turbine blades decompose.

Distl’s work was able to contribute to the urgently needed understanding of the alloys’ phase equilibria and microstructure in the decisive temperature range. These findings are an essential prerequisite to design more heat resistant Ti-AI alloys and ultimately more energy efficient aircraft engines.

The Otto Hahn Medal is awarded annually to 30 scientists in the fields of biology/medicine, physics and human sciences who work at Max Planck institutes. Its aim is to motivate particularly talented young scientists to pursue an academic career.