Department of Physical Metallurgy

New publication in Materials & Design

Our newest study demonstrates the potential of electron irradiation for local modification of the mechanical behavior of oxide glasses via In-SEM nanoindentation. The results show that electron irradiation is a powerful tool to locally activate plastic flow processes in order to target crack suppression and trigger the material to undergo a transformation from brittle to ductile.

New Publication within the Journal of Alloys and Compounds

In this study, the process of high-pressure torsion was applied to powder blends consisting of SmCo5-Sn to produce nanocomposites. Different process parameters were investigated. A coercivity of up to µ0Hc=1.77 T could be achieved, highlighting the great potential of the process to produce hardmagnetic nanocomposites. Detailed analyses of the interphases were carried out to understand their effects on the magnetic properties and to develop optimisation strategies for the production process.

Nanomechanical Testing in Materials Research and Development IX

This year's ECI Conference in Sicily took place at the foot of Mount Etna, where Marcel Sos and Sebastian Bruns represented the PhM with a poster and a presentation. In addition to a lively scientific exchange with numerous acquaintances, the excursion to the historic old town of Taormina, including a visit to the ancient Greek theater, was one of the highlights of the trip.

Home game for PhM: PhM was represented at this year's MSE Congress with numerous contributions. Among others, Rebekka Hlawaty presented the results of her Master's thesis on “Hard magnetic SmCo5-X (X = Cu, Sn) nanocomposites produced by high-pressure torsion – microstructural evolution and magnetic properties”.

Farewell to Franziska Staab

After four years of very productive collaboration in the SFB – TRR 270 HoMMage, the PhM had to say goodbye to Franziska Staab yesterday, Monday. We would like to thank her for the great time and the delicious Weißwurst breakfast as a farewell gift.

From August 27 to 29, the Physical Metallurgy group met for a retreat in the beautiful half-timbered town of Seligenstadt and enjoyed the summer temperatures on a guided tour of the old town and monastery.

New publication in Advanced Engineering Materials

The deformation behavior of an ultrafine-grained steel with lamellar microstructure was investigated using in-situ compression testing and nanoindentation. A novel sample geometry based on faceted pillars facilitates the direct correlation between high resolution microstructural analysis and localization of plastic deformation. The results show that the deformation plastic strain under compression lead to a relative motion along planar grain boundaries. It is assumed that this phenomenon is based on grain boundary sliding carried by grain boundary dislocations.

New publication in Materials & Design

Severe plastic deformation via high pressure torsion results in ultrafine-grained microstructures with grain sizes in the range of few tens to hundreds of nanometers. However, due to the high density of defects they are thermodynamically unstable and grain growth sets in at elevated temperatures. In this publication, the novel High Temperature Scanning Indentation technique is used to measure hardness and strain rate sensitivity of the alloys CuSn5 and CuZn5 quasi-continuously as a function of time and temperature. Along with microstructural analysis, these results are used to define different stability regimes.

TU Darmstadt Materials Scientists help shape the funding processes of the German Research Foundation

TU Darmstadt Materials Scientists help shape the funding processes of the German Research Foundation