Research at Applied Materials Group

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a technology that produces three-dimensional parts layer by layer from a material. A key concern in metal additive manufacturing is the density and structural integrity of a part formed. A great variety of processing parameters have influence on the final density, microstructure and residual stresses in a built part and thus they need to be optimized to avoid build failures such as porosity and cracks, but also geometrical distortions and faults of often complex structures as well as premature failure. Neutron imaging enables us to visualize and analyse such defects deep in the bulk of specimen, which allows to optimize build conditions, inform and develop simulations as well as sensors for printing technologies.

Engineering materials experience deformation during service, often in a cyclic nature. During the past decades, new materials compositions and new thermomechanical processing have emerged which have provided materials with enhanced strength, ductility and fatigue resistance. However, the recent advances in additive manufacturing, open new opportunities for realizing complex and optimized materials within a single component by manipulating the additive manufacturing process parameters.

The water balance in living plants serves a vital role from extracting water from the soil to transporting it to the shoot as well as throughout the plant and for sustaining transpiration. To fulfill these functions plants and their specific parts have a complex anatomical structure with varying cell layers of e.g. varying hydraulic conductivities. This behavior includes the rhizosphere, which is the soil fraction close to the roots in which the chemistry and microbiology are influenced by their growth, respiration, and nutrient exchange.

Hydrogen is the ultimate renewable energy carrier. The hydrogen cycle includes applications utilizing very high pressures. The investigations of matter (be it liquids for the transport or metal hydrides for hydrogen storage) under pressure, thus, contribute to the cornerstones for reaching the CO2 emission free energy goal.