MPIE Newsletter

We have some very good news to share: Dr. Baptiste Gault, head of our research group “Atom Probe Tomography”, was honoured this year with the Leibniz Award, the highest German research award. Dr. Gault is a worldwide leading scientist who pushes the technique of atom probe tomography (APT) to its limits. Already during his PhD studies, he implemented a pulsed-laser source on an atom probe, paving the way for the modern design of commercial APT instruments. He not only probes complex metallic materials at so far unprecedented resolution, but found a way to analyse with APT even biological materials, including proteins suspected to contribute to Alzheimer. His group works on connecting the vast amount of data from APT with machine learning techniques to accelerate and facilitate data extraction. And, one current big project, which is funded by the European Research Council, targets a crucial problem faced both by the steel industry and the hydrogen economy: the effect of hydrogen on metallic alloys. But, let him speak by himself in this very special newsletter edition. [more]

Shaping our future in terms of sustainable technologies, new materials and industrial processes is one of the most important topics of our generation and we are in need of scientific and engineering answers. How can we avoid the use of carbon as energy and reductant carrier in the entire field of materials science and engineering? [more]

Understanding the origin of material failure is essential for all applications where materials are exposed to mechanical contact and tribology. This newsletter edition therefore highlights some of our recent research on white etching cracks and fracture, phenomena, which decide about... [more]

The analysis of microstructures and phase transformations is key to tuning and predicting their properties and lifespan for different application scenarios. This applies particularly to superalloys and intermetallics used for aero engines which we have thus chosen to highlight... [more]

Big data and machine learning in materials science are still quite unexplored topics, yet, with huge potential in changing our current way of analysing and developing alloys and understanding materials-related phenomena. In this newsletter edition we present... [more]

Grain boundaries, their structure, mechanics and migration, are in the spotlight of this newsletter edition. Better understanding of grain boundaries enables improvement of the mechanical, electronic and chemical behaviour of materials. Here we present the work of three groups which focus on different aspects of this topic. [more]

Reactions at interfaces play a crucial role in the performance of engineering materials. At the same time, these interfaces are influenced by various parameters such as temperature, load etc. In this newsletter edition, we present our work on high temperature oxidation both from the experimental and theoretical point of view. [more]

The combination of high strength and ductility becomes more and more important for industrial applications. In this issue we present our theoretical and experimental work on high entropy alloys (HEA) – alloys which combine exactly those targeted properties. Please also have a look at our recently published Nature paper on HEA. [more]

One of the strongest engineering materials is pearlite, a material which gains its strength through severe plastic deformation. At the same time the exact mechanisms behind this strength are still not known, thus the design of ultrahigh strength materials is retarded. This newsletter edition provides latest insights on experimental and theoretical approaches to unravel the strengthening mechanisms. [more]

Hydrogen embrittlement has been a tough issue for materials’ research and industry ever since. In this newsletter edition we point out two of our projects on this topic, showing both an experimental and theoretical approach to first, find out where the hydrogen is exactly located in the material and second, to unravel the mechanisms of local plasticity, fracture and hydride formation. [more]

Renewable energies and the role of materials and the associated harsh environmental exposure for these systems are currently a hot topic in industry and basic research. In this newsletter edition we demonstrate how our researchers contribute to this field, both in terms of theoretical and experimental approaches such as employed for the improvement of solar and fuel cells... [more]

One of the most important structural changes is the departure of Prof. Stratmann who left the institute for becoming the next president of the Max Planck Society. His view about the relationship between research and industry is one important topic in this newsletter. [more]

Currently, the MPIE ex­periences some exiting changes: A new depart­ment focussing on nano­mechanics was establis­hed and new initiatives such as a group on „Functional Materials and lnteraction Forces" were formed. Here we inform you on these recent deve­lopments... [more]