New Iowa State professor makes nondestructive evaluation his life’s work.
In 1987, the year after he received his ScD in Materials Engineering from the University Magdeburg, Norbert Meyendorf was offered a job at his alma mater teaching nondestructive evaluation. Since that day, he knew there was nothing else he’d rather be doing than exploring the applications of NDE testing for real life problems and finding solutions.
He’s made NDE testing his life’s work, working on the academic side at the University of Dayton, as well as directing the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive Testing for over a decade. During his eleven-year tenure as the director of the German organization, Meyendorf oversaw the integration of his branch with Fraunhofer ITKS, the world’s largest ceramic institute.
“When I took over in 2004 we had 40 people and a €3 million budget,” Meyendorf said. “In 2013, we had 200 people and a €15 million budget. We were pretty successful in development of instrumentation of NDE inspection systems.”
Some of those inspection systems dealt with materials for aircraft structures such as glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy (Glare), composites, or advanced aluminum alloys. Meyendorf’s branch also was involved in different structural tests at the Dresden Airport, including a full scale fatigue test of the Airbus A380.
Meyendorf, who began at Iowa State in January of 2016, wants to continue to pursue the most cutting-edge research in the field of NDE. “The Iowa State Center for Nondestructive Evaluation is the world’s leading center in our area,” Meyendorf said. “That’s why I was very interested to work here.”
Having been immersed in NDE testing for 30 years, it’s easy to see the passion that Meyendorf shares for his research. “It’s my whole way of life, Meyendorf expressed. “All I’ve done in the past has led to this, it’s what I like the most.”