The research activities of the group are mainly focused on the mechanical characterization of newly developed structural materials for applications in future energy systems and on fundamental investigations related to the deformation and failure behaviour of predominantly metallic materials in dependence of structural features. For this purpose, the group is using both commercially available testing machines, as well as modified or completely self-developed testing devices, allowing testing samples with a size of some µm up to some cm even under highly complex loading scenarios. Besides, the group is using different structural characterization methods in order to correlate the mechanical behaviour of materials with microstructural features.

Current reaserch projects

• Investigations to the fatigue behavior (low-cycle-fatigue, thermo-mechanical fatigue, creep-fatigue interaction, ratcheting) of low activation steels like EUROFER97 at fusion reactor operating conditions
• Investigations to the change of material properties of EUROFER97 subjected to breeder blanket environment
• Nuclear safety – determination of the residual strength/ductility of claddings after realistic simulated accident scenarios
• Deformation behavior of fcc metals in small dimensions under both tension and torsional loading
• Investigations to the change of magnetic properties of a magnetite containing iron ore under cyclic loading at elevated temperatures