Fink adds international credentials to welding program

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Carolin Fink has joined The Ohio State University as ae faculty member in the welding engineering program, at the rank of assistant professor.

Fink received her Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany in 2009 and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2016.

During her doctoral studies, she developed expertise and research interests in welding metallurgy and weldability of nickel-base alloys, stainless steels, and high-strength-low-alloy steels. She was awarded the Henry Granjon Prize of the International Institute of Welding (IIW) in recognition of her Ph.D. research on cracking phenomena in nickel-base alloys.

Fink also became a certified International Welding Engineer (IWE) during her doctoral studies.

“My university partnered with a welding training program,” Fink said. “I had to do an entrance exam to prove my theoretical welding engineering knowledge from the university, and then we did two weeks of hands-on welding processes. We also had several weeks of in-depth theoretical classes in a broad range of welding engineering topics, from materials to design to quality insurance and safety issues. The whole course ended with a big exam and an additional oral examination.”

IWE certification is an important distinction in the German welding industry. “In a lot of industries, you’re required to have this to work as a welding engineer,” Fink said. “I did this additional certification because it imparts a more industrial view and hands-on knowledge of welding.”

Her research interests include materials degradation and weld cracking phenomena, weldability assessment of new materials, filler metal development, and rapid solidification metallurgy in additive manufacturing. Her post-doctoral work at Ohio State strengthened and expanded her studies to include extensive metallography with optical and electron microscopy, as well as computational materials and process modeling.

This fall, she’ll teach an advanced course in welding metallurgy and will organize the welding engineering graduate seminar.

 

Category: Faculty