Stahlinstitut VDEh https://vdeh.de/en/information/news/ – 28.04.2024

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Pluschkell passed away on September 1, 2023, at the age of 87. Prof. Pluschkell was born in 1936 in Laptau, East Prussia. After studying ferrous metallurgy at what was then the Clausthal Mining Academy, he first worked as an assistant at the Institute for Theoretical Metallurgy there, where he received his doctorate in 1967, and from 1966 as a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart. In 1971 he moved to Hoesch Stahl AG in Dortmund, where he was responsible for research and development, latterly as plant manager for process engineering. In 1990 he was appointed to the Chair of Metallurgical Process Technology at Clausthal Technical University, which he held until his retirement in 2002. Even after that, Prof. Pluschkell continued to be involved in research and teaching.

Prof. Pluschkell has made numerous important contributions to metallurgical process technology and its fundamentals. Examples include his work on the kinetics of metallurgical processes, on their modeling and on metrological monitoring using oxygen-EMF probes. He was a pioneer of iron ore reduction with hydrogen, an area of existential importance for the global steel industry today. His research in this field took place at a time when hydrogen reduction was still a niche topic. His scientific work has been reflected in well over one hundred publications.

The exchange between theory and practice was a special concern of Prof. Pluschkell. He was involved in the Committee for Metallurgical Fundamentals of the VDEh Steel Institute from as early as 1969 and chaired the Committee for Physical Chemistry from 1985. In recognition of his services to metallurgical research, he was appointed honorary member of the VDEh Committee on Metallurgical Fundamentals in 2004.

Prof. Pluschkell was a dedicated teacher who was very popular with his students due to his outstanding technical knowledge and didactic skills. Numerous doctoral and graduate theses were written under his guidance. In this way, his students and doctoral candidates were able to acquire excellent tools for their later professional activities.

Prof. Pluschkell also showed passionate commitment to continuing professional development: As a seminar leader and speaker at the VDEh Steel Academy, he gave numerous lectures in various metallurgical seminars until 2019. He was distinguished by his special ability to always combine in-depth theoretical expertise with a practical reference to everyday steel mill operations.

For many years, Prof. Pluschkell played a decisive role in shaping the development of the Institute of Metallurgy and, beyond that, of the Clausthal University of Technology, thus earning great merit. The technical community work and the further education of the Steel Institute VDEh have received many distinctive impulses through him. We owe him a great debt of gratitude for this.

He leaves behind two daughters; our sincere condolences go to them and their families.

TU Clausthal and Steel Institute VDEh