View source for Ehrenstein, Gottfried W.

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<span style="font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;">Ehrenstein, Gottfried W.</span>
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|width="600px"|Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h. c. Gottfried W. Ehrenstein, 14. Oktober 2008, Awarded honorary membership of the ‘Akademie Mitteldeutsche Kunststoffinnovationen'
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Prof. Dr. Gottfried W. Ehrenstein (1937 – 2021), born on 4 October 1937 in Danzig, was a German materials scientist/plastics engineer whose scientific work focused on [[Material Science & Plastics|polymer materials science]], [[Plastics|plastics]] processing, [[Composite Materials Testing|composite materials testing]], design and joining technology, and [[Failure Analysis – Basics|plastics damage analysis]].

Gottfried W. Ehrenstein studied general mechanical engineering with a specialisation in materials engineering at the [https://www.uni-hannover.de/en/ Technical University of Hanover] from 1957 to 1963. In 1967, he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on

'''„Grenzflächenenergetische Vorgänge und Eigenspannungszustände in glasfaserverstärkten Kunststoffen“''' (‘Interfacial energy processes and residual stress states in glass fibre-reinforced plastics’).

After completing his doctorate, he worked at the Official [https://www.iw.uni-hannover.de/en/institute Materials Testing Institute for Mechanical Engineering Materials and Plastics] in [https://www.lower-saxony.de/startseite/ Land Niedersachsen] (Lower Saxony) and as a research assistant to Professor Macherauch at the Institute for Materials Science at the [https://www.kit.edu/english/index.php University of Karlsruhe]. This was followed by 10 years in industry in the field of [[Thermoplastic Material|thermoplastics]] application technology at BASF. During his time in industry, he was appointed lecturer at the University of Karlsruhe in the field of [[Polymer|polymer]] [[Material & Werkstoff|materials]].

His habilitation thesis in 1976 on the subject of

'''„Polymerwerkstoffe – Struktur und mechanisches Verhalten“ (‘Polymer Materials – Structure and Mechanical Behaviour’ '''

has since been updated and is now considered a classic text in the field of plastics engineering. It has been translated into several languages. The English edition of the book was named an ‘Outstanding Academic Title’ by Choice magazine in 2001.

After completing his habilitation, he accepted a C4 professorship in Materials Science/Plastics at the [https://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/en/index.html Universität Gesamthochschule Kassel]. At the same time, he headed the [https://www.skz.de/en Süddeutsches Kunststoffzentrum] (South German Plastics Centre) in [https://www.wuerzburg.de/ Würzburg] from 1987 to 1992.

In 1989, he was appointed to the [https://www.fau.de/ Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg] and took over as head of the then newly established [https://www.ww.tf.fau.de/startseite/ueber-uns/lehrstuehle/lehrstuhl-ww5-polymerwerkstoffe/ Chair of Plastics Technology] (LKT).

Prof. Ehrenstein is the initiator and founder of the [https://www.wak-kunststofftechnik.de/home/ Wissenschaftlicher Arbeitskreis Kunststofftechnik] (WAK) (Scientific Working Group on Plastics Technology), an association of German university professors of plastics technology, and was also the first spokesperson for the WAK. He is also the initiator and editor of the [https://www.wak-kunststofftechnik.de/home/ WAK journal Kunststofftechnik], the world's first peer-reviewed internet journal for plastics engineering.

Gottfried W. Ehrenstein has been an honorary doctor of the [https://www.bme.hu/en Budapest University of Technology] since 1996, received the renowned [[Menges, Georg|Georg Menges]] Prize in 2006 and has been an honorary member of the ‘[http://www.amk-merseburg.de Akademie Mitteldeutsche Kunststoffinnovationen]’ (Central German Plastics Innovation Academy) since 2008.

He has always been particularly committed to providing students with high-quality training in the context of industry-oriented student research projects and diploma theses, as well as scientific supervision of doctoral theses. Through numerous scientific publications and books, as well as the organisation of many specialist seminars, he has made a lasting contribution to the direct transfer of current findings into the practice of plastics technology.

With his scientific work, he has actively contributed to the further development of [[Material Science & Plastics|polymer material science]] as a scientific discipline.

'''Selected books of Prof. Ehrenstein:'''

* '''Polymerwerkstoffe – Struktur und mechanisches Verhalten. Grundlagen für das technische Konstruieren mit Kunststoffen''': Carl Hanser, Munich, 1st Ed. (1978) 2nd Ed. (1999), 3rd Ed. (2011), ISBN 978-3-446-42283-4
* '''Kunststoff-Schadensanalyse. Methoden und Verfahren''': Carl Hanser, Munich (1992), ISBN 3-446-17329-3
* '''Faserverbund-Kunststoffe. Werkstoffe – Verarbeitung – Eigenschaften''': Carl Hanser, Munich 1st Ed. (1992), 2nd Ed. (2006) ISBN 3-446-22716-4
* '''Mit Kunststoffen konstruieren. Eine Einführung'''. Carl Hanser, Munich 1st Ed. (1995) 3rd Ed. (2007), ISBN 978-3-446-41322-1
* '''Praxis der Thermischen Analyse von Kunststoffen''': Ehrenstein, G. W., Riedel, G., Trawiel, P., Carl Hanser, Munich 1st Ed. (1998), 2nd Ed. (2003) ISBN 3-446-22340-1
* '''Beständigkeit von Kunststoffen''': Ehrenstein G. W., Pongratz, S., Carl Hanser, Munich (2008) ISBN 978-3-446-21851-2
* '''Strukturverhalten''': Carl Hanser, Munich (2021), ISBN 978-3-446-46703-3
* '''Mikroskopie''': Carl Hanser, Munich (2021), ISBN 978-3-446-46130-7
* '''Präparation''': Carl Hanser, Munich (2021), ISBN 978-3-446-40382-6
* '''Thermische Analyse''': Carl Hanser, Munich (2021), ISBN 978-3-446-46258-8
* '''Massenanalyse''': Carl Hanser, Munich (2021), ISBN 978-3-446-46452-0

'''Weblinks'''

* [https://portal.dnb.de/opac/enhancedSearch?index=tit&term=&operator=and&index=per&term=Ehrenstein%2C+Gottfried+W.&operator=and&index=inh&term=&operator=and&index=sw&term=&operator=and&index=jhr&term=&index=wvn&wvnStart=&wvnEnd=04.11.2025 Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Katalog] (access on 04.11.2025)
* Wikipedia – Die freie Enzyklopädie https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_W._Ehrenstein (access on 01.09.2025)
* Akademie Mitteldeutsche Kunststoffinnovationen http://www.amk-merseburg.de (access on 01.09.2025)
* WAK‒Zeitschrift Kunststofftechnik (https://www.kunststoffe.de/fachinformationen/zeitschrift-kunststofftechnik) Katalog (accesss on 01.09.2025)

[[Category:Material Scientists Polymer Scientists|Material Scientists/Polymer Scientists]]