History of the Society for Testing and Research of Materials and Structures of Serbia – DIMK Serbia -

The work of this Society in Serbia continues the work of the Union of Yugoslav Laboratories – SJL, and later the Yugoslav Society for Research and Testing of Materials and Structures – JUDIMK.

The Union of Yugoslav Laboratories was founded at the founding assembly held on May 10, 1952, in Belgrade. Thirteen eminent experts from Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, and Sarajevo took part in the work of the founding assembly, representing twelve institutes, agencies, laboratories, and faculties. Eng. Milutin Maksimović, head of Department I of the Institute for Testing Materials of the Serbian Academy of Sciences, was elected president of the Union. The basic organizational concept of SJL was based on collective and individual membership, which has been preserved to this day. Immediately after its formation, SJL carried out a campaign to enroll as many laboratories, agencies, and institutes as possible. In that period, around 40 potential collective members were recorded, including laboratories operating within companies as well as on construction sites. At first, the response was such that only ten more laboratories joined.

Already at the founding Assembly, an aspiration was expressed for SJL, both organizationally and through its activities, to align itself as closely as possible with RILEM. Therefore, at the founding assembly, a permanent delegate and representative of SJL to RILEM were elected. This activity resulted in admission to RILEM membership on September 12, 1952, at the congress in The Hague. It should be especially emphasized that at the XI Congress, held in London in July 1958, Professor Julije Hahamović of the Faculty of Engineering in Sarajevo was elected president of RILEM. This created even more favorable conditions for the work of SJL, resulting in the holding of the XII RILEM Congress from September 6 to 12, 1959, in the then Yugoslavia. Representatives from 25 countries attended the Congress, and its activities took place in Belgrade, Zagreb, and Ljubljana, along with numerous and substantial accompanying events. 

In addition to membership in RILEM, SJL was a member of the then Union of Civil Engineers and Technicians of Yugoslavia (SGITJ). In this sense, a certain continuity still exists today, since DIMK is also a member of SGI Serbia. Through its activities in society, primarily in the field of advancing civil engineering, the Union became a very important factor within the circle of engineering organizations.

With the aim of promoting work and achievements in the field of research of materials and structures, SJL initiated the publication of the journal “Bilten” (“Bulletin”). The decision was made at the VIII annual assembly held in May 1957 in Sarajevo. At the XI Assembly of SJL, held in Belgrade on April 27, 1963, three years after the X Assembly in Zagreb, the proposal of the editorial board of “Bilten” to change the name of the journal to “Materials and Structures” was accepted. Parallel with publishing activities, scientific-professional meetings also began to be held, so on the now distant June 12, 1958, a conference titled “Materials and Structures in Residential Construction” was held in Belgrade. Organizing symposia, consultations, round tables, as well as other forms of spreading scientific thought, became a permanent form of the Society’s activity and has been preserved to this day

SJL had particularly significant activity during 1963 in connection with the catastrophic earthquake in Skopje. Against the background of intensive work to remove the consequences of the catastrophic destruction, SJL experts from agencies and institutes in Skopje, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, and Ljubljana recorded, and later scientifically processed and studied, material about the earthquake and its consequences. Thus, a very extensive study was created, which partly served as the basis for drafting the Temporary Technical Regulations for Construction in Seismic Areas.

As early as its founding in 1952, SJL set as one of its main tasks work on preparing various standards for material testing, whether domestic standards or translations of foreign standards. Later, this activity expanded to the field of civil engineering as a whole.

Back in 1960, at the Assembly in Zagreb, SJL made a decision that, within the Union as a competent and objective professional organization, expert committees should be formed consisting of experts from scientific organizations, faculties, industry, and state administration for drafting acts of technical regulation. Thus, during the 1960s and up to the beginning of the 1970s, a larger number of Yugoslav technical regulations were compiled and a large number of accompanying standards (JUS) were prepared. Only some of the regulations worked on will be listed here: Regulations in the field of steel structures (1961), Yugoslav technical regulations for anti-seismic construction (1964), Study on concrete corrosion (1963). 

In the period from 1967 until publication in 1970, work was done on a whole set of regulations for: prestressed concrete, concrete and reinforced concrete, walls, thermal insulation, sound insulation, timber structures, composite structures, assembly of steel structures, and protection of steel structures against corrosion (a total of 9 regulations). This extensive work was successfully completed with the engagement of eminent experts from institutes, faculties, and other relevant organizations from all former republics. 

Particularly significant was the engagement in drafting regulations in the field of reinforced and prestressed concrete, first published in 1971 – Rulebook BAB 71, which was later amended so that Rulebook BAB 87 entered into force, published by JUDIMK and SDGKJ.

At the beginning of the 1980s, JUDIMK initiated cooperation with the Federal Institute for Standardization with the aim of establishing and shaping a new product attestation system. For example, JUDIMK prepared the first order on mandatory attestation of cement, certain concrete prefabricated products, aggregates, and some waterproofing materials. The Society’s work on drafting so-called technical regulations continues to this day. It should be especially noted that in 1993 JUDIMK, together with SDGKJ and the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade, launched an initiative with the Federal Institute for Standardization to begin translating and introducing the professional public to the Eurocodes. 

During the past decades, seventeen Congresses and Symposia on the application of modern achievements in our civil engineering in the field of materials and structures were held, namely:

• XII Congress and Symposium of SJL in Sarajevo, November 1966. Milutin Maksimović, B.Sc. Eng., who was also the first president of SJL in 1952, was elected president of the Governing Board.

• XIII Congress and Symposium of SJL in Bled, November 1969. Viktor Turnšek, B.Sc. Eng., who had also been president of SJL in the period from 1957 to 1958, was elected president of the Governing Board.

• XIV Congress and Symposium of SJL, Haludovo – Malinska, October 1972. Stanko Manestar, B.Sc. Eng., was elected president of the Governing Board.

• XV Congress and Symposium of SJL, Ohrid, October 1975. Prof. Hololčev Krum, B.Sc. Eng., was elected president of the Governing Board.

• XVI Congress and Symposium of SJL, Vrnjačka Banja, November 1978. At this Congress, the Union of Yugoslav Laboratories changed its name to the Yugoslav Society for Testing and Research of Materials and Structures – JUDIMK. Prof. Dobrosav Jevtić, B.Sc. Eng., was elected president of the Governing Board, whose function was later assumed by Prof. Aleksandar Flašar.

• XVII Congress and Symposium of JUDIMK, Sarajevo – Ilidža, October 1982. Prof. Seid Ferušić, B.Sc. Eng., was elected president of JUDIMK, whose function was later assumed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jože Vižintin.

• XVIII Congress and Symposium of JUDIMK, Portorož, October 1986. Dr. Andrej Zajc was elected president of the Governing Board.

• XIX Congress and Symposium of JUDIMK, Novi Sad, September 1990. Prof. Aleksandar Flašar was elected president of the Society.

• XX Congress and Symposium of JUDIMK, Cetinje, June 1996. Dr. Đorđe Uzelac was elected president of the Society.

• XXI Congress and Symposium of JUDIMK, Belgrade, September 1999. Prof. Dr. Mihailo Muravljov was elected president of the Society.

• XXII Congress and Symposium of JUDIMK, Niška Banja, October 2002. The mandate of the Society president, Prof. Dr. Mihailo Muravljov, was extended.

• XXIII Congress and Symposium of DIMK of Serbia and Montenegro, Novi Sad, October 2005. The mandate of the Society president, Prof. Dr. Mihailo Muravljov, was extended.

• XXIV Congress and Symposium of DIMK Serbia, Divčibare, October 2008. Prof. Dr. Vlastimir Radonjanin was elected president of the Society.

• XXV Congress and Symposium of DIMK Serbia, Tara, October 2011. Prof. Dr. Zoran Grdić was elected president of the Society.

• XXVI Congress and Symposium of DIMK Serbia, Vrnjačka Banja, October 2014. Prof. Dr. Dragica Jevtić was elected president of the Society

• XXVII Congress and Symposium of DIMK Serbia, Vršac, October 2017. Prof. Dr. Dragica Jevtić was re-elected president of the Society.

• XXVIII Congress and Symposium of DIMK Serbia, Divčibare, October 2022. Dr. Zagorka Radojević, B.Sc. Eng. in Technology, was elected president of the Society

• At the Assembly of DIMK Serbia on 26.12.2023. Prof. Dr. Dimitrije Zakić was elected president of the Society

• At the Assembly of DIMK Serbia on 17.06.2025. Prof. Dr. Nenad Ristić was elected president of the Society