Research Philosophy
Vision:
Quantum mechanically guided materials design
Goal:
To design coating materials with desired elasticity, ductility and phase stability. This design effort includes the interactions between coating and ambient (exposure to gases, liquids and solids).
Targeted application fields are metal cutting, forming operations, tribological contacts and energy conversion.
Strategy & Methods:
Computational tools based on ab-initio methods provide predictions which are critically appraised by thin film combinatorics experiments: By co-deposition from multiple plasma sources we produce thin films with concentration gradients which are then spatially resolved analysed with respect to composition, structure, elastic properties and phase stability.