Author: Matheus A. Tunes

An experimental physicist who enjoys the company of intriguing people and is able to endure many cups of coffee and engage in endless scientific discussions.

One-grain-at-a-time: how in situ EBSD rewrote sink-strength theory for space aluminium

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Ultrafine-grained (UFG) aluminium alloys are strong candidates for space structures: their dense grain-boundary network acts as sinks that absorb radiation-induced defects (more in our perspective review https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialsau.5c00139). But that advantage only survives if the microstructure does — and in Low-Earth Orbit, sunlit components reach ~200 °C, right where severely deformed aluminium begins to recrystallise. The … Continue reading One-grain-at-a-time: how in situ EBSD rewrote sink-strength theory for space aluminium

Folding, thinner, lighter, and stronger wings signals a quiet retreat for aluminium in aerospace

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Airbus has just announced the next phase of its Wing of Tomorrow programme: a three-year flight-test campaign, unveiled at Farnborough, that will bolt full-scale wing extensions onto an A321neo to trial the longer, higher-aspect-ratio wings destined for the successor to its best-selling single-aisle family. The extensions are several metres long and stand in for a … Continue reading Folding, thinner, lighter, and stronger wings signals a quiet retreat for aluminium in aerospace

Rethinking copper metallurgy for the future of fusion reactors

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We are delighted to share a new preprint that takes on one of fusion energy's most stubborn materials problems: building a heat sink that can survive inside a reactor. Commercial fusion demands components that withstand intense neutron bombardment while extracting punishing heat loads for conversion to electricity, and CuCrZr — a copper alloy strengthened by … Continue reading Rethinking copper metallurgy for the future of fusion reactors

How much radiation damage can you do in seconds?

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Qualifying materials for future fission and fusion reactors is painfully slow. Neutron irradiation is costly, time-consuming and leaves samples radioactive, while ion-beam alternatives require competitive proposals and scheduled beam time at oversubscribed accelerator facilities. In a new preprint, we ask whether an instrument already sitting in many microscopy labs — the plasma focused ion beam … Continue reading How much radiation damage can you do in seconds?

Professor Milos Djukic Brings Hydrogen Masterclass to Leoben

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This week we had the great pleasure of welcoming Professor Milos B. Djukic (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) to Leoben — a world-class authority on hydrogen embrittlement and one of the most influential voices in the field today. Professors Djukic and Keckes at ESI. Professor Djukic visited at the invitation of Professor Jozef … Continue reading Professor Milos Djukic Brings Hydrogen Masterclass to Leoben

University of São Paulo: Among the best institutions in the world!

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Congratulations to my alma matter -- The University of São Paulo (USP)in Brazil -- for being selected among the world's top institutions! It has been an honour and a pleasure to be one of your students =] From USP Journal: QS World University Ranking places USP as Brazil’s highest-ranked university In four indicators assessed, USP … Continue reading University of São Paulo: Among the best institutions in the world!

A new way to “see” inside aluminium alloys

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What if a single microscope image could simultaneously show nanoclusters, dislocations, grain boundaries, and corrosion pores – all in under a minute? We have found a way to do exactly that and we described recently in a paper published it in Small Methods! The method, called differential phase contrast (DPC), is not new to electron … Continue reading A new way to “see” inside aluminium alloys

The nanoscale secrets of melting in eutectic systems

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Eutectic systems have shaped mankind for millennia — bronze, solder, casting alloys — and yet, for all their industrial pedigree, the nanoscale mechanics of how they actually melt has remained stubbornly out of reach. Experimental resolution simply could not keep up with the physics. A new preprint from our group closes that gap, using in … Continue reading The nanoscale secrets of melting in eutectic systems

Battery waste is worth billions!

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As the world accelerates its transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy, the pressure to recycle lithium-ion batteries efficiently has never been greater. At the heart of most recycling processes sits a fine black powder called black mass — a mixture of cathode and anode materials, binder residues, and metallic fragments recovered from spent batteries. … Continue reading Battery waste is worth billions!

When electron microscopes think for themselves: has China just changed science forever?

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A Chinese research team at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics has announced what could prove to be a remarkable leap forward in scientific instrumentation: an intelligent transmission electron microscope (TEM) capable of fully autonomous operation. The device, named Yuanyan-1, reportedly harnesses artificial intelligence to overcome longstanding limitations of conventional TEMs, which have depended on … Continue reading When electron microscopes think for themselves: has China just changed science forever?