Scientific Events

The DFG Priority Programme SPP 1239 on the “Change of microstructure and shape of solid materials by external magnetic fields” will perform one of its annual focus meetings at the MPIE Düsseldorf on April 13-14. The meeting is devoted to the fundamental understanding of magnetic shape memory materials, including iron based as well as Heusler type alloys. The microstructural changes in these materials can at the same time result in large length changes and be performed with high switching frequencies, being promising for several applications. The (local) organizers of the meeting are Dr. Tilmann Hickel, head of the group “Computational Phase Studies”, and Dr. Ali Al-Zubi. Approx. 20 scientific partners from various parts of Germany (incl. the universities in Duisburg-Essen, Bonn and the Leibniz institute in Dresden) as well as invited speakers from USA, Spain and India will come together. A large variety of experimental as well as theoretical results will be presented and ample of time will be used for discussion, in order to bring this highly interesting system of materials further forward. [more]

The 20th annual meeting on Electron Back Scattering Diffraction (EBSD) techniques will take place from March 28-31 at the MPIE Düsseldorf. Stefan Zaefferer, head of the group 'Microscopy and Diffraction' and organiser of the conference, expects around 100 delegates from the relevant field which probably makes this meeting one of the largest ever held in this series. EBSD is a powerful and ever-developing tool for microstructure characterization in the scanning electron microscope. Besides its standard applications for quantitative microstructure investigations there are many emerging fields of applications where the technique reaches into the regions of classical x-ray and transmission electron microscopy investigations. Since its beginnings the English Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) accompanied this development by organizing annual meetings on the subject, usually in Great Britain. This is the first time that the meeting is held outside of Great Britain. On these meetings the leading experts and the everyday users join to discuss applications and developments in technique and equipment. [more]