Following recent conversations with friends and colleagues, Prof. Cláudio G. Schön, Prof. Ernst Kozeschnik and Dr. Johannes Österreicher, I have come to the conclusion that we should be more optimistic about the future of mankind, and of science, and physics in particular. This holds even when we take into account the geopolitical challenges of the … Continue reading Why I Remain Optimistic About the Future of Mankind
For decades, aluminium alloys forced a choice: the 5xxx family is easy to form but only moderately strong, while the 7xxx family is strong but difficult to process. The crossover concept, developed at Montanuniversität Leoben by the research group of Prof. Stefan Pogatscher, removes that trade-off. A tuned combination of magnesium, zinc and, in some … Continue reading Built for cars, but ready for space: A warm welcome to AMAG CrossAlloy®57!
A Breakthrough Discovery from the Beihang University' Brazil Centre A wall that knows when to keep you warm and when to keep you cool — that's the elegant idea behind a remarkable new breakthrough from Beihang University, published in the top-tier journal Advanced Materials. A team led by Associate Researcher Ding Yilin and the brilliant … Continue reading Warm in Winter, Cool in Summer
Cold spray sounds almost too simple to work: fire a metal particle at a surface fast enough, and it sticks – no melting, no welding, just brute plastic deformation smashing a bond into place. That has been the textbook story for two decades. But in our latest paper with colleagues at Politecnico di Milano and … Continue reading Rethinking how cold spray really bonds dissimilar metals
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
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
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
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!
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?
Problems in academic/scientific environments are not dirt to be swept under the carpet. Scientists in formation — especially young ones like masters and doctoral students — are human beings, and deserve to be treated as such. Fairly. Integrity cannot be taught by those who do not practise it. A problem buried under the carpet is … Continue reading Leadership is not a carpet…
