Hydrogen in aluminium can cause embrittlement and critical failure. However, the behaviour of hydrogen in aluminium was not yet understood. Scientists at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung were able to locate hydrogen inside aluminium’s microstructure and designed strategies to trap the hydrogen atoms inside the microstructure. This can…
Solid-liquid interfaces are at the heart of many problems of practical importance, such as water electrolysis and batteries, photo catalytic water splitting, electro-catalysis, or corrosion. Understanding the structures forming at surfaces of solids immersed in an aqueous electrolyte is, therefore, of particularly high interest. In this project, we…
Grain boundaries (GBs) are regions connecting adjacent crystals with different crystallographic orientations. GBs are a type of lattice imperfection, with their own structure and composition, and as such impact a material’s mechanical and functional properties. Structural motifs and phases formed at chemically decorated GBs can be of a transient…
Understanding hydrogen-microstructure interactions in metallic alloys and composites is a key issue in the development of low-carbon-emission energy by e.g. fuel cells, or the prevention of detrimental phenomena such as hydrogen embrittlement. We develop and test infrastructure, through in-situ nanoindentation and related techniques, to study…
Recently developed dual-phase high entropy alloys (HEAs) exhibit both an increase in strength and ductility upon grain refinement, overcoming the strength-ductility trade-off in conventional alloys [1]. Metastability engineering through compositional tuning in non-equimolar Fe-Mn-Co-Cr HEAs enabled the design of a dual-phase alloy composed of…
Because of their excellent corrosion resistance, high wear resistance and comparable low density, Fe–Al-based alloys are an interesting alternative for replacing stainless steels and possibly even Ni-base superalloys. Recent progress in increasing strength at high temperatures has evoked interest by industries to evaluate possibilities to employ…
