Method Development

The project HyWay aims to promote the design of advanced materials that maintain outstanding mechanical properties while mitigating the impact of hydrogen by developing flexible, efficient tools for multiscale material modelling and characterization. These efficient material assessment suites integrate data-driven approaches, advanced characterization, multiscale modelling, and ontology-based knowledge management seamlessly, revealing hydrogen-material interactions in storage and transport conditions. more

While Density Functional Theory (DFT) is in principle exact, the exchange functional remains unknown, which limits the accuracy of DFT simulation. Still, in addition to the accuracy of the exchange functional, the quality of material properties calculated with DFT is also restricted by the choice of finite bases sets.
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Hydrogen embrittlement is one of the most substantial issues as we strive for a greener future by transitioning to a hydrogen-based economy. The mechanisms behind material degradation caused by hydrogen embrittlement are poorly understood owing to the elusive nature of hydrogen. Therefore, in the project "In situ Hydrogen Platform for Microstructural Analysis and Mechanical Performance of Materials (HMMM)”, we aim to create a state-of-the-art, all-in-one platform to look more closely into the interactions of hydrogen and the material by utilizing real-time, high-resolution characterization methods. more

The computational materials design department in collaboration with the Technical University Darmstadt and the Ruhr University Bochum developed a workflow to calculate phase diagrams from ab-initio. This achievement is based on the expertise in the ab-initio thermodynamics in combination with the recent advancements in machine-learned interatomic potentials and the continuous development of the pyiron workflow framework. more

The project Hydrogen Embrittlement Protection Coating (HEPCO) addresses the critical aspects of hydrogen permeation and embrittlement by developing novel strategies for coating and characterizing hydrogen permeation barrier layers for valves and pumps used for hydrogen storage and transport applications. more

Latest results now published in the journal Science Advances more

The aim of the work is to develop instrumentation, methodology and protocols to extract the dynamic strength and hardness of micro-/nano- scale materials at high strain rates using an in situ nanomechanical tester capable of indentation up to constant strain rates of up to 100000 s⁻¹. more

Max Planck scientists design a process that merges metal extraction, alloying and processing into one single, eco-friendly step. Their results are now published in the journal Nature. more

Scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung pioneer new machine learning model for corrosion-resistant alloy design. Their results are now published in the journal Science Advances more

A further step in unravelling materials’ properties down to the atomic scale more

Video: How to save time and effort in materials’ characterization? more

Statistical significance in materials science is a challenge that has been trying to overcome by miniaturization. However, this process is still limited to 4-5 tests per parameter variance, i.e. Size, orientation, grain size, composition, etc. as the process of fabricating pillars and testing has to be done one by one. With this project, we aim to fabricate arrays of well-defined and located particles that can be tested in an automated manner. With a statistically significant amount of samples tested per parameter variance, we expect to apply more complex statistical models and implement machine learning techniques to analyze this complex problem. more

In this project, links are being established between local chemical variation and the mechanical response of laser-processed metallic alloys and advanced materials.

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In collaboration with Dr. Edgar Rauch, SIMAP laboratory, Grenoble, and Dr. Wolfgang Ludwig, MATEIS, INSA Lyon, we are developing a correlative scanning precession electron diffraction and atom probe tomography method to access the three-dimensional (3D) crystallographic character and compositional information of nanomaterials with unprecedented spatial and chemical resolution. more

About 90% of all mechanical service failures are caused by fatigue. Avoiding fatigue failure requires addressing the wide knowledge gap regarding the micromechanical processes governing damage under cyclic loading, which may be fundamentally different from that under static loading. This is particularly true for deformation-induced martensitic transformation (DIMT), one of the most common strengthening mechanisms for alloys. Here, we identify two antagonistic mechanisms mediated by martensitic transformation during the fatigue process through in situ observations and demonstrate the dual role of DIMT in fatigue crack growth and its strong crack-size dependence. Our findings open up avenues for designing fatigue-resistant alloys through optimal use of DIMT. They also enable the development of physically based lifetime prediction models with higher fidelity.
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Within this project, we will use an infra-red laser beam source based selective powder melting to fabricate copper alloy (CuCrZr) architectures. The focus will be on identifying the process parameter-microstructure-mechanical property relationships in 3-dimensional CuCrZr alloy lattice architectures, under both quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions.
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In this project we developed a phase-field model capable of describing multi-component and multi-sublattice ordered phases, by directly incorporating the compound energy CALPHAD formalism based on chemical potentials. We investigated the complex compositional pathway for the formation of the η-phase in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys during commercial multi-stage artificial ageing treatments.
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Here, we aim to develop machine-learning enhanced atom probe tomography approaches to reveal chemical short/long-range order (S/LRO) in a series of metallic materials. more

The structures of grain boundaries (GBs) have been investigated in great detail. However, much less is known about their chemical features, owing to the experimental difficulties to probe these features at the near-atomic scale inside bulk material specimens. Atom probe tomography (APT) is a tool capable of accomplishing this task, with an ability to quantify chemical characteristics at near-atomic scale. more

Water electrolysis has the potential to become the major technology for the production of the high amount of green hydrogen that is necessary for its widespread application in a decarbonized economy. The bottleneck of this electrochemical reaction is the anodic partial reaction, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is sluggish and hence requires efficient catalysts. We use electrochemical in situ spectroscopy techniques to study this reaction in detail. more