Research

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Research

The Institute for Materials conducts research on various materials topics. These will not all be listed here, but can be viewed on the websites of the members of the Institute for Materials. Here are some examples of research areas that have a longer tradition at the Institute for Materials and/or are currently being intensively researched.

Atomic-Scale Characterisation - Materials Discovery and Interfaces - Materials Testing - Materials Technology - Materials Science and Engineering

Atomic-Scale Characterisation

Metal organic frameworks

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are novel materials consisting of inorganic components and organic molecules that serve as connecting elements. Due to their adjustable porosity, these materials can be used, for example, to store hydrogen or carbon dioxide.

Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles are very small particles with a diameter of only a few nanometers. Due to their large specific surface area, these particles have a high chemical reactivity and thus a high application potential for catalysts, for example.

Materials Discovery and Interfaces

New materials for future energy systems

Novel electrocatalysts
Materials for solar water splitting
Thermoelectrics

(Multi)Ferroic materials

Ni-Ti based shape memory alloys
High temperature shape memory alloys
Magnetic shape memory alloys
Oxide shape memory alloys

Materials Testing

Hydrogen input due to electrogalvanizing

Galvanically produced zinc coatings provide optimum corrosion protection. It is also always accompanied by the introduction of diffusible hydrogen, which has a crack-initiating effect in areas of maximum stress. Hydrogen absorption can be reduced by selecting suitable coating parameters.

TurboGreen

Hydrogen is the energy carrier of the future and is expected to help Germany become climate-neutral by 2045. To this end, hydrogen is gradually being added to fuel gases such as natural gas and fed into existing gas turbines, for example.

Influence of local hydrogen distribution in multiphase steels on hydrogen-induced cracking

Modern high-performance steels achieve high strengths and yet behave ductile. This is made possible, among other things, by combining different microstructural modifications within one material. Due to the high strength, however, these steels are susceptible to hydrogen-induced damage, whereby the influence of the individual microstructural components on the global material behavior is not precisely known.

Materials Technology

Powder Metallurgy

From alloy design to the component - research into new high-alloy PM materials for innovative processes such as HIP with rapid quenching or additive manufacturing, makes it possible to open up unimagined degrees of freedom and meet the highest material requirements.

New materials for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing places special demands on the materials to be processed. Novel alloy concepts are therefore being developed specifically for additive manufacturing processes, including alternatives to conventional starting materials such as pre-alloyed, gas-atomized powders.

Medical Technology

Medical technology products are subject to the most stringent requirements. Among other things, they must not corrode and must often be radiopaque for use. All this depends on the selection of the right materials. Therefore, structural materials, new functional coatings and the characterization of innovative design patterns for use in medical technology will be considered.

Circular Economy

Making resource-intensive products obsolete, extending product life cycles, enabling re-functionalization through materials science, returning resources to the materials cycle: These are all approaches to a Circular Economy (CE) that we are researching, for example by upcycling metallic microchips.

Micromechanics and wear

Only with a comprehensive insight into microscopic behavior can the material solutions of the future be developed. To this end, we use state-of-the-art methods to investigate the micromechanical properties of individual phases and of microstructures on the mesoscopic scale.

Data Analytics und Materials Design

Every aspect of science is fundamentally data-based, including materials science and engineering. We systematically generate, store, manage and analyze materials data and metadata. This enables us and true multi-scale, tailored material design.