Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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DF: Fachverband Dielektrische Festkörper

DF 17: Crystallography in Materials Science (Joint Session of KR, DF)

DF 17.4: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 15:30–16:15, HSZ 101

New Grounds in Materials Science: Complex Metallic Alloys — •Michael Feuerbacher — Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, 52425 Juelich, Germany.

Complex metallic alloys (CMAs) represent a class of materials increasingly receiving scientific attention. These materials possess characteristic structural features substantially deviating from those of simple metals. They have large lattice constants and, correspondingly, a high number of atoms per unit cell, ranging from some ten to some thousands. Their local order is dominated by icosahedral-symmetric atom coordination in the form of concentric cluster shells. These characteristic structural features are at the origin of novel physical properties.

Due to the crucial structure-property relations, transmission electron microscopy is an inevitable tool for the understanding of the physical properties of CMAs. We will present structural characterizations of various CMA materials by state-of-the-art techniques, such as aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy and high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy. We will review recent experimental investigations of the physical properties of CMAs, and discuss these in the light of the particular cluster substructure. Basic scientific phenomena will be addressed, such as novel structural defects and deformation mechanisms, as well as application related issues, for example the use of CMAs as catalysts, as thermoelectric materials, and for digital data storage.