Reinhold W. Lang

Reinhold W. Lang

Reinhold W. Lang (born May 9, 1954 in Güssing , Burgenland ) is an Austrian plastics technician , scientist and university professor. Since September 2009 he has headed the Institute of Polymeric Materials and Testing at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU) in Linz .

Life

Reinhold W. Lang graduated in 1978 from the Montan University Leoben as a qualified engineer for plastics technology. He then graduated from the American Lehigh University , Bethlehem , Pennsylvania , doctoral studies Polymer Engineering and Science, which he with presentation of the 1984 Ph.D. completed. Before and during his time in the USA, Lang worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Materials Technology at the University of Kassel , Germany and as a visiting researcher at the Ecole d'Application des Hauts Polymères in Strasbourg , France . From 1984 to 1991 he held various positions in the field of plastics and composites at BASF , Ludwigshafen am Rhein . In 1991 he was appointed full professor for materials science and testing of plastics at the Montan University Leoben, where he became chairman of the institute of the same name. In 1993 he founded the Institute for Plastics Technology at JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH , Graz , which was incorporated into the newly founded Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH (PCCL; Leoben ) as a result of the successful development and expansion in 2002 . As initiator, managing director and scientific director of the PCCL from 2002 to 2008, Lang was in charge of building and expanding the PCCL to around 100 employees. Since September 2009 he has headed the Institute of Polymeric Materials and Testing at the Johannes Kepler University, Linz.

Main focus of work and research

Lang's research activities cover the following subject areas:

• Polymer materials and sustainable development ("Sustainable Development")

• Efficiency: Energy and material efficiency (reduction of energy and material intensity per service / functional unit)
• Energy: polymer materials for renewable energy technologies (solar, wind, water)
• Water: polymer materials for regional and global water supply (drinking water, sanitation, agriculture, etc.)
• Biogenic polymer materials: property profiles and potential of polymer materials from renewable raw materials or other bio-based manufacturing methods
• Life cycle assessments / life cycle analyzes: Material and performance-oriented life cycle analysis (LCA)

• Multi-functional property profiles and applications of polymer materials (focus on the areas of "mechanics under complex stress" and "aging behavior")

• Deformation and failure behavior (fatigue, long-term and impact stress; thermal-mechanical stress, media exposure and aging)
• Conventional mechanics, fracture mechanics and micromechanics
• Construction parameters and material laws; Failure kinetics, failure criteria and life modeling; Transferability of test specimen parameters to the component behavior
• Combinations of mechanical, thermal, optical, electrical and acoustic properties as well as transport (barrier) properties
• Physical and technological characterization of the material and performance properties for application-relevant conditions (test specimen and component level)
• Aging behavior of polymer materials
• Further development of test and characterization methods

• Characterization of internal material structures and clarification of structure / property / processing / performance relationships ("structure / processing / property / performance relationships", sp³ relationships):

• Microscopic, spectroscopic and thermo-analytical methods
• Nano, micro and macro range
• Focus on polyolefins and polyolefin compounds (PE, PP) as well as thermosets, composites and elastomers

Others

Teaching and training: As an academic teacher, Lang has so far supervised and assessed 23 dissertations and around 180 diploma theses and 160 study and bachelor theses. He co-supervised or co-assessed around 10 further dissertations. In addition, three of his research assistants have completed their habilitation or have been appointed university professors.

Cooperative research: In the field of cooperative research (science and economy), Lang has in the last ten years, in a leading role as applicant for large consortia and in the role of scientific director, acquired around EUR 50 million as third-party funding for Austrian plastics research and coordinated its implementation. These include a. the establishment and expansion of the Polymer Competence Center Leoben as part of the Kplus program (2002–2009), a major research project on the subject of “Polymer Nano-Composites” (2006–2008) as part of the Austrian nano initiative, a K approved in the COMET program -Project on the topic of “Advanced Polymeric Materials and Process Technologies” (2010–2014) for the polymer group of the JKU Linz and the lead project “Solar thermal systems from polymer materials - SolPol” (2010–2013) in the New Energies 2020 program of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund.

Publications: Lang is the author or co-author of over 200 publications and co-editor of 8 conference proceedings and monographs.

Voluntary work and memberships

• 1981/82 President of the International Student Organization at Lehigh University.
• 1986–1991 member of two DIN committees for the creation of standards for high-performance composite materials - GRP and CFK (Berlin).
• 1992–2000 board member of the SUSTAIN association for the coordination of research on sustainability, Graz.
• since 1994 member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Renewable Energy Working Group - Institute for Sustainable Technologies (AEE INTEC), (Gleisdorf).
• 1995–2000 deputy director of the Austrian Institute for Sustainability (ÖIN), (Vienna).
• 1996–2000 member of the Austrian Climate Council of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Youth and Family, (Vienna).
• 2000–2002 member of the advisory board of the plastics cluster Austria (Linz).
• since 05/2001 board member of the Renewable Energy Working Group - Institute for Sustainable Technologies (AEE INTEC), Gleisdorf.
• since 2006 member of the initiatives committee of the industry initiative (BRA.IN) plastics industry of the FFG (Vienna).
• since 2007 associated foreign member of the Scientific Working Group on Plastics Technology (WAK), Germany
• since 2008 Advisory Board of the Internet magazine Kunststofftechnik

Awards and honors

• Rector Platzer Ring for excellent academic success and diploma “With Distinction” at the Montan University Leoben (1978)
• Scholarship from the Austrian-American Educational Commission (Fulbright Commission) for post-graduate studies at Lehigh University (1979–1981)
• Golden VÖK badge of honor from the Association of Austrian Plastics Processors (2008)

Web links

• Institute of Polymeric Materials and Testing
• Publications by Reinhold Lang