Ultra-fine grained and dispersion-strengthened titanium materials (Ti-Si, Ti-C, Ti-Si-C) have been produced by high energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Silicon or/and carbon were milled together with the titanium powder to form nanometer-sized and homogeneously distributed titanium silicides or/and carbides as dispersoids, that should prevent grain coarsening during the SPS compaction and contribute to strengthening of the material. The microstructures and the mechanical properties showed that strength, hardness and wear resistance of the sintered materials have been significantly improved by the mechanisms of grain refinement and dispersion strengthening. The use of an organic fluid as carrier of the dispersoid forming elements caused a significant increase in ductility.

Elemental powders are used in high energy milling processes for the synthesis of new compounds. The low temperature solid state reactions during milling in inert gas atmosphere may result in intermetallic phases, carbides, nitrides or silicides with a nanocrystalline structure. To obtain dense materials from the powders a pressure assisted densification is necessary. On the other side the defect-rich microstructure can be used for activated sintering of elemental powder mixtures to obtain dense bodies by pressureless sintering. Results are discussed for nanocrystalline cermet systems and for the sintering of aluminides and silicides

Trees are extraordinary long living, sessile organisms that are faced quite variable environmental conditions and biotic stress factors during their life. They have a high level of genetic diversity to ensure adaptation and adaptability. With the massive advance in next generation DNA-sequencing, our abilities to screen this genetic variation have increased drastically. I will give an overview on the different genomic approaches, main target tree species and examples for application in the area of population genetics. Examples will show how high throughput SNP genotyping clarifies our views on taxonomy, phylogeography and provide us with useful data for different diagnostic applications such as species identification, tracking geographic origin and screening the level of pre-disposition to abiotic and biotic stress factors. Since a few years next generation sequencing and advanced molecular marker development have also been used in genetic association studies and transcriptome sequencing (RNASeq) in order to discover genes that are coding economical and ecological important phenotypic traits of trees. I will present examples on target phenotypic traits and the use in tree breeding programs