- Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Whether turbine blades for airplanes or for power generation, electrical/hybrid drives or fuel cells and catalytic reactors – a long lifetime in harsh environments such as high pressure, high temperature, and aggressive surroundings is the main requirement of high-performance materials. These materials exhibit high structural integrity and simultaneous multifunctionality. The interfaces of these materials can improve the mechanical properties and create new chemical and/or electronic functions. In ZGH, metallic, semiconducting and dielectric materials will be investigated with a focus on the scientific understanding and design of interfaces. Mechanically, chemically and physically dominated high-performance materials will be developed by fundamental understanding and control of interfaces on the atomic scale. Results will be transferred to macroscopic materials. The researchers will design novel materials with new combinations of structure and functions. An intensive interdisciplinary collaboration in the fields modeling, synthesis, processing and characterization of materials is needed.
ZGH will house the latest methods for materials characterization such as aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and a three-dimensional atom probe. These tools allow a basic understanding of the atomic structure of materials and the systematic development of new materials. The close combination of scale-bridging experiments and simulation on atomic, microscopic and macroscopic scales characterizes the scientific program of the ZGH.
- Christoph Somsen
- Ralf Drautz
- Gunther Eggeler
- Yujiao Li
- Janine Pfetzing-Micklich