Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH

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Scientists

Dr. Tilmann Hickel

+49 211 6792 397 +49 211 6792 575 +49 211 6792 465 hickel@...

PD Dr. Michael Rohwerder

Group Leader +49 211 6792 914 rohwerder@...

Research Groups

The main scope of this group is to address fundamental questions of corrosion science by isolating the crucial problems behind them and designing model experiments for their systematic investigation. A technique of central importance for many research projects within the group is the Scanning Kelvin Probe technique. Based on a world leading expertise in this technique also novel application fields are explored, such as the use of SKP for measuring hydrogen in steels and other alloys. The research in this group comprises very applied as well as very fundamental projects.

Computational Phase Studies

The research in this group is devoted to the physics of (meta)stable thermodynamic phases as well as transitions between them. The major vision is an ab initio based prediction of thermodynamic bulk phase diagrams, being directly related to many technologically relevant properties and processes in metals.

Related Projects

Hydrogen in metals

Hydrogen embrittlement may result in fractures delayed by days or even months. For an in-depth understanding of the underlying phenomena, it is crucial to realize reliable detection of hydrogen at ultralow concentrations, well below the parts per million (ppm) range. Hydrogen can be taken up by the metal during its processing, e.g. during annealing, pickling or other cleaning steps, but also at later stages during its application, such as due to corrosion or cathodic corrosion protection. Therefore, it is important to develop sensitive techniques of measuring hydrogen uptake and diffusion, as well its presence in trap sites in the material.

Hydrogen at cracks

Hydrogen at crack tips can embrittle steels and lead to catastrophic material failure. In this project we develop a continuum model for the formation of hydride zones in the tensile regions of a crack tip. It changes the fracture properties of static and propagating fractures.

Scale bridging modeling of hydrogen embrittlement

Hydrogen embrittlement is a persistent mode of failure in modern structural materials. The processes related to HE span various time and spatial scales. Thus we are establishing multiscale approaches that are based on the parameters and insights obtained by accurate ab initio calculations in order to simulate HE at the continuum level.