International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF)

ICMCTF 2023 took place May 21 - 26 in San Diego, California. This conference is widely considered the most important annual meeting of scientists and companies involved in research on hard coatings, and is especially dedicated to their mechanical properties. This year, our chair gained high visibility with the invited lecture of Prof. Merle. We would like to thank the organizers Prof. Marco Sebastiani and Dr. Xavier Maeder for a very successful symposium.

Subsequently, Prof. Merle traveled to the University of California Irvine to give a seminar talk at the invitation of Prof. Tim Rupert. In both cases Prof. Merle presented our recent progress on high-speed nanoindentation (see NanoHighSpeed project), especially at high temperatures (cooperation with Prof. George Pharr, Texas A&M University). Besides the seminar lecture, he was presented with several opportunities to talk to the group members and the colleagues of the host Prof. Tim Rupert. In a friendly atmosphere, he could convince himself of the high relevance of their current research and the strong potential of the UC Irvine.