About us

Inside the World of Materials Research

The institute pursues a strong interdisciplinary approach by combining chemistry, physics, metallurgy and material sciences to develop new high-performance materials for use as high-tech structural and functional components.

The MPIE is structured into four departments:

_{Department
Computational Materials Design}
_{J. Neugebauer}

Ab initio guided multiscale approaches
Design of compositionally and structurally complex alloys and surfaces
Methods and applications in microstructure evolution and defect phases
Machine learning, big data infrastructure and workflows for simulations and experiments

_{Department
Interface Chemistry & Surface Engineering
M. Stratmann}

Electrochemical surface science
Catalysis and corrosion
High-temperatur reactions
Functional surfaces, interfaces, coatings and materials

_{Department
Microstructure Physics & Alloy Design
D. Raabe}

Alloy Design
Micromechanics
Correlative atom probe tomography
Sustainable metallurgy

_{Department
Structure & Nano- / Micromechanics of Materials}
_{G. Dehm}

Nano-/Micromechanics of materials
Grain boundary phases and properties
Advanced transmission electron microscopy
Thin films, nanostructured materials and intermetallics

Nanoanalytics and Interfaces

Energy materials
Efficiency and degradation
Imperfections in materials
Correlative microscopy

Electrochemistry and Nanoscale Materials

Materials electrochemistry
Electrocatalysis
Operando spectro-electrochemistry
Single entity electrochemistry

Materials Science of Additive Manufacturing

"De Magnete" - Designing Magnetism on the Atomic Scale

Sustainable Metallurgy and Materials

Hydrogen Embrittlement in High Temperature Alloys

Thin Film Materials Design

High-Temperature Materials

External Partner Groups

Combinatorial design of novel rare-earth free, high-entropy based permanent magnets

Degradation of High Temperature Materials

Stress and Defects Driven Phase Transformations

Sustainable Material Science and Technology

Microstructure design of high-performance materials for harsh energy applications

Functional Oxide Nanostructures

All organizational units complement each other in terms of methodology and research focus and cooperate with one another as well as with colleagues worldwide. Our central research areas are highly interdisciplinary and combine the experimental and theoretical expertise of the Departments:

Advanced Materials

Microstructure and Properties

Method Development

Artificial Intelligence and Digitalization

Sustainability of and through Materials

Materials under harsh environments and their stability of surfaces and Interfaces

Besides the intra-departmental and external cooperation with other scientific organizations, the MPIE has well-established links with material and manufacturing companies mainly in the fields of structural and functional alloy design, advanced characterization methods in alloy development, surface functionalization, and computational materials science. These links are particularly valuable for the institute's development from a materials-oriented laboratory towards a system-driven institute that deals with complex materials in a holistic context including construction, production and the consideration of extreme environmental conditions. Current areas of growth with strong industrial relations are in the fields of hybrid- and electro-mobility, energy conversion and storage, renewable energy, health, hydrogen-based industries and computational materials science.

More about the Structure of the MPIE