RESEARCH

Research Clusters

Microstructure Analysis and Grain Boundary Engineering

Many of the materials around us are polycrystalline materials composed of many crystals or "grains". Grain boundaries are interfaces between two grains of different orientations, and their structures and properties depend on the crystal orientation relationship between the neighbouring grains. The properties of grain boundaries often control the physical properties of the entire polycrystalline material. One example of the importance of grain boundaries is the issue in solar cells of polycrystalline materials, a key technology in the search for greener and sustainable energy, grain boundaries are one of the main causes of losses causing decreases in the conversion efficiency of sunlight to electrical energy, but an important point is that not all grain boundaries contribute to this loss to the same extent. There are certain types at which the decrease in the conversion efficiency hardly occurs at all. This example shows that it is important to make the best use of the individual characteristics of grain boundaries to design and control materials properties. The research in our group takes as its basis grain boundary and interface science and engineering and the PMP triangle of 'Microstructure-Properties-Processing', with the aim of developing advanced materials with excellent function and performance.

Microstructure Analysis and Grain Boundary Engineering

Cluster members

  • Japan
    Sadahiro TSUREKAWA

    Professor
    Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University

    Japan
  • Germany
    Dmitri Aleks MOLODOV

    Professor
    Institute of Physical Metallurgy and Metal Physics, RWTH, Aachen University
    ＊IROAST Distinguished Professor

    Germany
  • Czech Republic
    Pavel LEJČEK

    Professor
    Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
    ＊IROAST Visiting Professor

    Czech Republic
  • Japan
    Mitsuhiro MATSUDA

    Associate Professor
    Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University

    Japan
  • Austria
    Thomas WAITZ

    Associate Professor
    Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
    ＊IROAST Visiting Professor

    Austria
  • Austria
    Christian RENTENBERGER

    Associate Professor
    Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
    ＊IROAST Visiting Professor

    Austria
  • Japan
    Yoshitaka MATSUKAWA

    Associate Professor
    Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University

    Japan

Achievement

Publications
Grants
  • Matsuda: Promotion of Joint International Research (International Collaborative Research) of KAKENHI, "Characteristic control based on quantitative evaluation of nano-defect and defect-induced strain field in functional materials", Grant Number 23KK0087 (from FY2023 to FY2027).
  • Matsuda: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), “Development of high temperature shape memory alloy based on the atomic shuffling mechanism in martensitic transformation”, Grant Number JP20H02427 (from FY2020 to FY2023).
  • Tsurekawa: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), “Grain boundary – dislocation interactions under chemical and physical reaction fields associated with grain boundary segregation”, Grant Number 20H001760 (from FY2022 to FY2025).
  • Tsurekawa: The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan Research Promotion Grant, “Impact of grain boundary character and structure on hydrogen embrittlement of grain boundary in a-iron” (from FY2022 to FY2023).
  • Tsurekawa: The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ) Research Project, "Approach of grain boundary engineering for achieving high- permance steels" (from FY2023 to FY2025).

Activities

Tsurekawa’s (ST) group

  • Prof. D. A. Molodov's (DM) stay at Kumamoto University in May 2023


    (At the meeting with Director of IROAST in May 2023)


    (Lectures on "Grain Boundary Migration" at the 94th and 95th IROAST Seminar)

    (At the Discussion meeting on research progress with students in Tsurekawa Lab)

  • Prof. D. A. Molodov's stay at KU in October 2023

    (With students in Tsurekawa Lab)
  • Prof. P. Lejček's stay at Kumamoto University in Feb. 2024

    (Lecture on "Introduction to grain boundary segregation" at the 117th IROAST Seminar)
  • Stay of Profs. D. A. Molodov and P. Lejček  at Kumamoto University in Nov. 2022
  • The IROAST workshop entitled "Fundamentals of Grain Boundary Phenomena", where four invited speakers, including Prof. D. A. Molodov and P. Lejček

M. Matsuda’s (MM) group

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