The focus of our work includes fundamental and applied aspects of novel materials used in energy applications. We synthesize nanocrystalline and microcrystalline materials using a variety of melting, powder metallurgy and deformation techniques. We carry out materials characterisation on length scales from pm to cm using electrons, x-rays and a variety of physical properties measurements.

Processing

• arc melting
• induction melting
• annealing in controlled atmosphere
• melt spinning
• ball milling/mechanical alloying
• hot-pressing, die upsetting and backward extrusion (net-shaped ring magnets)
• hydriding, nitriding

Microstructural Characterisation

• high resolution, field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (incl. EBSD and EDX)
• aberration-corrected high resolution transmission electron microscopy (incl. EDX and EELS)
• X-ray diffraction incl. Rietveld refinement

Magnetometry

• PPMS incl. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (2-1000K, 14 Tesla)
• Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (2-700K, 9 Tesla)
• SQUID Magnetometer incl. pressure cell (2-350K, 7 T)
• Permeameter (up to 200°C, 2 T)

Magnetic Microstructure

• time-, field-, temperature-dependent Kerr microscopy
• MFM

Thermal Properties

• various DTA, DSC and TGA apparatuses (e.g. Netzsch DSC 150 bar hydrogen)
• Setaram DSC-TGA-MS (400bar, 800°C)