Two master’s theses and two dissertations receive awards
Four IKV graduates were honoured for their final theses at the Scientific Working Group of University Professors of Plastics Technology (WAK) 2025.
© IKVThe Scientific Working Group of University Professors of Plastics Technology (WAK) 2025 has awarded four prizes for outstanding theses to graduates of the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and the Skilled Crafts at RWTH Aachen University. The award ceremony, moderated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Elmar Moritzer (University of Paderborn, KTP), took place on October 13, 2025 as part of K 2025 on the main stage of the special show Plastics Shape the Future.
Thomas Wöhnke and Dr.-Ing. Philipp Surray each received a Wilfried Ensinger Prize for their work in the field of developing and describing engineering plastics for innovative applications.
Thomas Wöhnke received an award for his master’s thesis entitled “Development and evaluation of a key figure for assessing the material stress of unreinforced thermoplastics during the injection molding process based on viscosity”. Philipp Surray received the award for his doctoral thesis “Development of a DSC with direct sample injection for the complete characterization of the curing behaviour of highly reactive plastics”.
The Oechsler Prize, which is awarded for work on methods and approaches to the development and design of plastic components, went to Dr.-Ing. Hakan Çelik for his dissertation on “Influence of load frequency and fiber orientation on the fatigue behavior of short glass fiber-reinforced plastics”.
Henrik Starch received the Röchling Prize for work on processes and material issues in plastics recycling for his master’s thesis “Analysis of the segregation and agglomeration behaviour during the injection moulding of polyolefin post-consumer recyclates, taking into account the use of compatibilizers”.
© IKV
© IKV
© IKV
© IKVEvery year, the Scientific Working Group of University Professors of Plastics Technology (WAK) honours outstanding theses at German universities in the field of plastics technology. The following are being awarded anually:
- Brose Prize (sponsor: Brose SE) for work on the development of new processes and techniques in the processing of plastics
- Wilfried Ensinger Prize (donor: Ensinger GmbH) for work in the field of development and description of engineering plastics for innovative applications
- Oechsler Prize (sponsor: Oechsler AG) for work on methods and approaches to the development and design of plastic components
- Röchling Prize (donor: Röchling Group) for work on processes and material issues in plastics recycling
The award winners are selected by an independent jury and nominations are made by professors of plastics technology at German universities.