Girls‘ Day, 28th April: One day as a researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung
The Institute opens its labs for interested schoolgirls on 28 April 2016
Material properties for hardship cases
Analyse the mechanical properties of different materials scaling from micro- to nanometres. Since the middle ages, materials and their properties were a matter of interest. Due to increasing industrialization it became more and more important to develop high-quality metallic materials, especially considering the increasing requirements coming from new application possibilities. To characterize and to prove the materials’ field of application, a sophisticated analysis of their mechanical properties is essential. During your day as a scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung you will be able to test the materials’ suitability using special analysis methods!
Registration „Material properties for hardship cases“
One day as a nano scientist
Results and developments of nano science influence our everyday life. Cell phones or even sunscreens comprise components in the scale of a few nanometres (1/1,000,000 meter!). But how can we observe such small components? It is not possible to do this with light microscopes, hence scientists use so called electron microscopes. During your day as a nano scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung you will learn how these microscopes work and how they are used. You will analyse the structure of different materials and see that we are able to learn a lot from nature. In nature, we see nanostructures that are adjusted perfectly to their environment or their tasks. Such insights are used in nano science to develop better materials or find better structures for certain application such as solar cells.
Registration: Already fully booked
Your day as a surface scientist
A surface is the interface between an object and its environment. In biology, surfaces for example determine the communication between cells or are involved in nerve-impulse propagation. The surface also plays a major role in technical applications. The surface properties of two objects determine whether those two objects will stick to each other or if they can be moved easily in relation to each other (friction). One of the most important properties of technical surfaces is their roughness. During your day in the labs of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung you will produce different surfaces with two different techniques and analyse their roughness. At first, you will vaporize gold in a vacuum chamber and precipitate it afterwards to create a sample. After this you will produce another gold sample by stripping a layer from a very smooth gold surface. You will not be able to see any difference between the two samples with the naked eye but if you look at their roughness by using an atomic force microscope, you will be able to see big differences.