MPIE-Calendar 2022
January - Water trajectories in an electric field
Ab initio molecular dynamics calculated trajectories for water molecules in an electric field. Two charged Ne electrodes (top and bottom straight lines) realize the field. Each colour shows the trajectory of a different water molecule. This research aims at understanding electron transfer reaction and is relevant for a green economy.
February - Grain boundaries with atomic resolution
Atomically resolved image of Fe segregation in a Titanium grain boundary. Such segregation can influence the strength and toughness of a bio-implant placed inside the human body. Understanding the grain boundary structure is fundamental to our ambition of tailoring the microstructure based on desired properties.
March - Free energy surfaces of H on Pt(111)
Free energy surfaces calculated with ab initio molecular dynamics for H adsorption on a Pt(111) surface in electrochemical environment. Each image represents a different number of H atoms on the surface. The darker the color, the stronger the H-Pt(111) bonding at that site. This research is relevant in the context of a green economy.
April - How Boron hardens steel
Boron segregation and precipitation at a prior austenite grain boundary in a low carbon high strength steel. Atom probe tomography reveals Boron enrichment along the boundary. Such decorations at the austenite grain boundary explain how Boron effects the hardenability of steel.
May - Flawless Nickel microparticles
Nickel microparticles are obtained by heating very thin metal sheets, an automated python code identifies and measures them. We study their size, shape, composition and strength to develop materials for high performance technology applications as for example sensors.
June - Strain Around Group of Dislocations
Dislocations are defects in the arrangement of atoms. They strongly influence the structural and growth properties of materials, e.g. steel for electrical transformers. Shown is the strain around an array of screw dislocations (red dots) in x (left), y (center), and z (right) direction.
July - Inside a wind turbine bearing
Inside a wind turbine bearing it looks like any moment chicks are hatching out of crumbling eggs. However, this indicates a critical issue in the microstructure. Moving cracks propagate below the bearing raceway, even penetrate hard carbides and ultimately lead to premature bearing failures.
August - Nano-indentation for inverse modelling
Atomic force microscopy image of the imprint of a nano-indent. Colour indicates the height, which shows a four-fold symmetry of the pile-up pattern as predicted by crystal plasticity. The topography is used for identifying the macroscopic mechanical properties by inverse modelling of microscopic experimental tests.
September - Water splitting for green hydrogen
Novel simulation techniques developed at MPIE enable to explore and predict chemical reactions at electrified surfaces in contact with liquid electrolytes. These techniques are critical to surmount materials-related challenges in sustainable energy conversion and storage, e.g. green hydrogen production.
October - Cation migration at microscopic scale
Electrode potential maps on a metal surface measured with in situ scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy: the colours indicate how the metal corrodes by showing the migration of cations from a defect. Blue shows decreased potentials depicting cation-migrated regions. Green shows the ion migration front.
November - Microscale scratch morphology in copper single crystals
Scanning electron micrographs of scratches on two different cube-oriented Copper single crystal regions. The images illustrate that the crystallographic scratch direction strongly affects the resulting surface morphology (left <110>, right <100>), of profound influence for material wear and component lifetime under tribological loading.
December - APT characterization of Ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles
In order to improve the functionality of hydrogen fuel cells Pt catalysts are being replaced by Pt-Ru systems. Here we fully characterize Ru nanoparticles by APT in order to gain important 3D chemical information that may give may give insights into how to improve synthesis parameters and avoid long-term degradation.