The "ibausil" is an international conference in the field of materials research and takes place every three years in Weimar. After a break due to the coronavirus, this was the first year that the conference was finally able to take place in person again.

Over 600 visitors and speakers from 22 countries took part in the conference. The topics covered by the speakers ranged from new building materials and cement chemistry to special applications, special binders and additive manufacturing.

A major focus was on low-emission construction, recycling of building materials and sustainability in general. There was also a company and poster exhibition.

The department was well represented by Prof. Bernhard Middendorf, Dr. Koch, Dr. Wetzel, Mr. Kosenko, Mr. Laabs, Ms. Link, Mr. Schleiting and Ms. Umbach. The presentations covered the latest research results in the field, such as the use of shape memory alloys, alkali-activated fiber concretes, recycling in the sand-lime brick sector, superplasticizer adsorption, fracture behavior of lightweight concrete and mineral molds for cast aluminum components.

The keynote lecture by Prof. Dr. Middendorf on the topic of "Functionalization of fibre-reinforced high-performance concretes using shape memory alloys" met with great interest.

Dr. Wetzel presented "Fibre-reinforced UHPC based on alkali-activated binders" - a cement-free and at the same time high-strength and durable building material.

In his presentation "Spatially resolved in situ analyses of the adsorption behavior of different admixtures on binders",Mr. Kosenko explained how fluorescence microscopy and permanent preparations can be used to investigate the interaction and adsorption of superplasticizers on different particles.

In his presentation "Improving the CO₂ balance of sand-lime bricks by using sawing sludge as an optimization aggregate",Mr. Laabs impressively demonstrated how sawing sludge from sand-lime brick production could be successfully reintegrated into production as an aggregate.

In the lecture "Ultra-high performance alkali-activated slag as a reusable mold for light metal casting", Ms. Link presented reusable molds for aluminum casting made from alkali-activated binders.

In his presentation "Fibre reinforced ultra-high performance concrete - Rheology, fibre bond strength and flexural strength",Mr. Schleiting not only addressed the investigation of the fiber bond, but also showed how shape memory alloys could be implemented as fiber reinforcement in the future.

In her presentation "Fracture behavior of UHPC lightweight concrete - in situ investigations using µ-CT", Ms. Umbach presented her extensive investigations into the fracture mechanics of ultra-high performance lightweight concrete.