Scientific Advisory Board - Erich Schmid Institute

ERICH SCHMID INSTITUTE OF MATERIALS SCIENCE 

Austrian Academy of Sciences 

Scientific Report 2012 

Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science 

RepoRting peRiod: 1.1.2012 – 31.12.2012 

inteRim diRectoR: prof. dr. Reinhard pippan 

AddReSS: Jahnstraße 12 

8700 Leoben 

Austria 

Scientific RepoRt 2012 page 1


Image on front page: 

orientation image of a hot torsion deformed austenitic steel 

christian Rehrl and oliver Renk 

page 2 Scientific RepoRt 2012


Part I: The Institute 

Mission Statement 

the erich Schmid institute of materials Science (eSi) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences 

performs cutting-edge basic research setting the basis for new material concepts. 

the technological progress in our society with its development into “smaller”, “lighter”, and 

“faster” requires more and more sustainable materials and components with specific electronic, 

magnetic or mechanical properties. Understanding the mechanical properties of materials 

is a prerequisite for success, since their lifetime is frequently limited by the nucleation and 

growth of defects during production and service. the material is successively damaged until 

the component fails or cannot fulfill a necessary function. 

the institute’s scientific mission is to develop design concepts for damage resistant materials 

with a focus on understanding and predicting the microstructure-property relations at all length 

scales, with a special emphasis on mechanical properties. in this innovative research field, eSi 

is pushing the frontiers by combining advanced experimental and modeling techniques. this 

is a huge challenge since the length scales involved span nearly 10 orders of magnitude, from 

atomic structures to macroscopic devices and components. in the last years we have set the 

foundation for developing into these directions by concentrating our research activities in five 

interlinked areas: 

i) Deformation, Fatigue, and Fracture 

ii) Micro- and Nano-Mechanics 

iii) Micro- and Nano-Structure Characterization 

iv) Novel Bulk Nano-Materials by Severe Plastic Deformation 

v) Complex Materials. 

eSi has a long-standing history in area (i) with outstanding experimental and numerical activities 

on plasticity and the prediction of failure of metallic materials, driving topics, such as localized 

damage evolution and new concepts to improve ductility of inherently brittle materials. Area (i) 

was then complemented by area (iii), and has been more recently further developed into areas 

(ii) and (iv). new material classes and composites have been adopted into the research portfolio, 

area (v). today, all areas focus on various aspects of the micro- and nano-scale, exploring even 

atomic dimensions. the vision of our research is to understand the mechanical properties of 

complex materials at all length scales, from macro to micro, to determine quantitative relations 

for the prediction of the material behavior from their micro- and nanostructure, and to design 

and create novel materials with highly improved properties. 

the erich Schmid institute of materials Science has flourished since its foundation in 1971 to one 

of the world’s leading institutes in research on mechanical properties, both in the development 

of highly sophisticated experimental techniques and in establishing theoretical concepts for 

deformation, fatigue and fracture of materials. eSi is enjoying a high international reputation, 

benefits from its creative young scientists from all over the world, and is well connected with 

leaders in science and industry. 



Scientific Organization 

the basic research activities of the eSi are concentrated in five interlinked research areas: 

Deformation, Fatigue, and Fracture: experiments and modeling activities to enhance the 

fundamental understanding of deformation phenomena and the mechanisms of damage 

evolution. 

Micro- and Nano-Mechanics: development and implementation of miniaturized mechanical 

tests and discrete dislocation modeling to understand deformation at small length scales. 

Micro- and Nano-Structure Characterization: development and application of advanced 

electron microscopy and synchrotron methods for microstructural characterization. 

Novel Bulk Nano-Materials by Severe Plastic Deformation: Synthesis of massive nanomaterials 

and composites and their experimental investigation. 

Complex Materials: development of design criteria by investigating and understanding 

microstructure – property relations of advanced engineering materials, biological materials, 

composites, and thin film structures. 

each research area is subdivided into different topics, which have their own specific focus and 

research activities, and which are led by topic leaders (see schematic). As can be seen from 

the schematic our topic leaders are often involved in several of the five central research areas, 

stimulating a high degree of interaction and interdisciplinary research activities by combining 

different expertise. 



Management Structure 

the erich Schmid institute of materials Science (eSi) is a research institute of the Austrian 

Academy of Sciences. the director of the eSi also holds the chair position in the department 

of materials physics at the University of Leoben. this combines the advantages of a basic 

research institution with an ambitious research mission and outstanding infrastructure with the 

resources of excellent students educated at the University of Leoben. 

the eSi has been headed since february 2005 to September 2012 by gerhard dehm, 

following the appointments of H.p. Stüwe and p. fratzl as former directors. Reinhard pippan is 

vice director of the eSi and has led the institute twice as an intermediate director from 1996- 

1997 and from 2003-2005 and now since october 2012. the management structure at the end 

of 2012 is shown below. 

Since 2008 eSi is supported by a Scientific Advisory Board. 

* A. Hohenwarter, c. Scheiner and W. Bernt have changed from eSi to the chair of materials 

physics on August 1, 2012. 



Scientific Advisory Board 

Ǻgren John, department of materials Science and engineering, KtH (Royal institute of 

technology), Stockholm, SWeden 

Gumbsch Peter, institut für Zuverlässigkeit von Bauteilen und Systemen, Universität Karlsruhe 

/Kit, and fraunhofer institut für Werkstoffmechanik, freiburg, geRmAnY 

Rühle Manfred, max planck institut für metallforschung, Stuttgart, geRmAnY 

Head Scientific Advisory Board 

van der Giessen Erik, micromechanica-Zernike inst. for Advanced materials, Rijksuniversiteit 

groningen, netHeRLAndS 

Vehoff Horst, fachrichtung Werkstoffwissenschaft u. methodik, fakultät 8: naturwissenschaftl.techn. 

fakultät iii, Universität d. Saarlandes, geRmAnY 

Stratmann Martin, max-planck-institut für eisenforschung gmbH, düsseldorf, geRmAnY 

Weselka Daniel, Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und forschung, Wien, AUStRiA 

Raj Rishi, department of mechanical engineering, University of colorado, Boulder, 

United StAteS 

Vice-Head Scientific Advisory Board 



Zusammenfassung des wissenschaftlichen Berichts 2012 

das erich Schmid institut (eSi) kann trotz einschneidender Veränderungen auf ein 

wissenschaftlich erfolgreiches Jahr 2012 zurückblicken. in über 50 publikationen wurden 

die forschungsarbeiten des institutes in international angesehenen fachzeitschriften (z.B. 

phys. Rev. B, phys. Rev. Letters, Acta materialia) präsentiert. Aufgrund der hohen Reputation 

des instituts in der wissenschaftlichen community, wurden die mitarbeiter zu mehr als 40 

Vorträgen bei internationalen wissenschaftlichen tagungen und Kolloquien eingeladen. Bei 

der 19. europäischen Bruchtagung (ecf19) in Kasan haben otmar Kolednik und Reinhard 

pippan zwei plenarvorträge gehalten; dies demonstriert die Bedeutung des eSi in diesem 

Arbeitsfeld. der wissenschaftliche nachwuchs ist eine wichtige Säule des instituts. 2011 

und 2012 haben von den etwa 20 doktoranden 13 ihre dissertation und 11 Studenten ihre 

diplomarbeit abgeschlossen. 

die forschungsleistungen der mitarbeiter wurden durch preise und Auszeichnungen 

unterstrichen. Besonders hervorzuheben ist der „masing-gedächtnispreis“ – die höchste 

Auszeichnung für junge Wissenschafter (unter 40) – welche die deutsche gesellschaft für 

materialkunde verleiht, den christian motz erhielt. otmar Kolednik wurde mit der fellowship der 

european Structural integrity Society für seine „herausragenden Beiträge zur experimentellen 

und nichtlinearen Bruchmechanik“ ausgezeichne. Weiters zu erwähnen sind der fritz grasenick 

preis der Österreichischen elektronenmikroskopie gesellschaft und der fritz Kohlrausch 

preis der Österreichischen physikalischen gesellschaft den daniel Kiener erhalten hat und 

die „sub auspiciis praesidentis“ promotion von christoph Kirchlechner. die Veranstaltung von 

hochrangigen Symposien bei der tagung „plasticity 2012“ in San Juan, der 8th european 

Solid mechanics conference emcS 2012 in graz und mehrere Workshops unterstreichen die 

internationalen und nationalen Aktivitäten des instituts. 

der direktor des eSi, gerhard dehm, hat mit 30.9.2012 das institut verlassen und eine 

Stelle als direktor am max planck institut für eisenforschung in düsseldorf angetreten. 

Auch christian motz, der die Arbeiten im Bereich Versetzungssimulation und mikromechanik 

entscheidend mitgeprägt hat, hat das Angebot, das äußerst renommierte institut für material- 

wissenschaft und methodik der Universität Saarbrücken zu übernehmen, angenommen. 

für die wissenschaftliche Arbeit des eSi ist dies eine Auszeichnung, besonders wenn man 

berücksichtigt, dass innerhalb von weniger als zehn Jahren zwei direktoren als Leiter von 

max planck instituten abgeworben wurden. dies ist aber auch eine große Herausforderung 

für das institut, die wissenschaftliche Arbeit an international führender position erfolgreich 

fortzusetzen. glücklicherweise hat Zaoli Zhang das Angebot die Leitung eines der weltweit 

größten durchstrahlungselektronenmikroskopie-Zentrums an der Universität marseille nicht 

angenommen. mit seiner expertise und den erfolgreichen jungen mitarbeitern daniel Kiener 

und christoph Kirchlechner in der mikromechanikgruppe kann sichergestellt werden, dass alle 

Arbeitsgruppen des instituts auch in Zukunft im internationalen Spitzenfeld mithalten können. 

die durch die finanziellen Schwierigkeiten der ÖAW verursachten budgetären probleme des 

eSi konnten durch das Angebot des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und forschung, eine 

Arbeitsgruppe „Anwendungsorientierte Hochverformung“ an den Lehrstuhl für materialphysik 

(mp) der montanuniversität zu übertragen, vorläufig gelöst werden. damit konnte die personelle 

Stärke der einheit eSi und mp trotz der Budgetreduktion des eSi erhalten bleiben. Über 

drittmittel konnte das eSi und der Lehrstuhl für mp Österreichs modernstes Labor-Röntgendiffraktometer 

anschaffen und damit die Basis legen, auch in Zukunft in diesem Bereich ihre 

top-positionen zu behalten. 



Highlight (deutsch) 

nanokristalline materialien und nanocomposites sind einer der großen forschungsschwerpunkte 

in der materialwissenschaft. diese materialien weisen sehr hohe mechanische 

festigkeit und vielfach ganz besondere physikalische eigenschaften auf. in den letzten 30 

Jahren wurde eine Vielzahl von techniken zur Herstellung dieser neuartigen materialien 

entwickelt. die meisten davon erlauben aber nur die Herstellung sehr geringer materialmengen 

oder können nur in form von dünnen filmen realisiert werden. mechanisches Legieren ist 

eine der wenigen techniken, die auch die Herstellung größerer materialmengen erlaubt, hat 

aber den nachteil, dass das endprodukt ein pulver mit oft sehr hohen und undefinierten 

Verunreinigungen ist. die Herstellung von massiven materialien aus diesen pulvern ist ein 

großes problem und vielfach verliert man die nanostruktur beim notwendigen Sinterprozess. 

in den letzten beiden Jahren haben wir durch die Hochverformung von pulvermischungen 

ähnliche nanostrukturierte materialien und nanocomposites wie beim mechanischen Legieren 

hergestellt, aber ohne all die nachteile, die man sich beim mechanischen Legieren einhandelt. 

das endprodukt ist ein in der Zusammensetzung gut definierter massiver nanocomposite. 

Aus verschiedenen mischbaren (legierungsbildende) und unmischbaren metall-metall, metallpolymer, 

metall-Keramik Systemen wurden erfolgreich nanocomposites hergestellt. diese 

neue technik ermöglicht nun die Herstellung einer enormen Vielfalt neuartiger materialien und 

wird die materialwissenschaft in Zukunft entscheidend beeinflussen. erste Resultate wurden 

veröffentlicht in: Bachmaier et al., Acta mater., 2012; Bachmaier, pippan, phil. mag. Letters, in 

press; Bachmaier, pippan, 2013, international materials Review 58, 41-62. 

Die 5 wichtigsten Publikationen 

Bachmaier Andrea, Kerber m., Setman d., pippan Reinhard, 

The formation of supersaturated solid solutions in Fe-Cu alloys deformed by 

high-pressure torsion . Acta materialia 60, (2012) 860-871. 

fischer franz dieter, Simha narendra K., predan Jozef, Schöngrundner Ronald, 

Kolednik otmar, 

On configurational forces at boundaries in fracture mechanics . international Journal of 

fracture 174, (2012) 61-74. 

Kiener daniel, Zhang Zaoli, Sturm S., cazottes Sophie, imrich peter Julian, Kirchlechner 

christoph, dehm gerhard Advanced nanomechanics in the TEM: effects of thermal 

annealing on FIB prepared Cu samples . philosophical magazine 92, (2012) 3269-3289. 

Kirchlechner christoph, imrich peter Julian, grosinger Wolfgang, Kapp marlene W., Keckes 

Jozef, micha J.S., Ulrich o., thomas o., Labat S., motz christian, dehm gerhard 

Expected and unexpected plastic behavior at the micron scale: An in situ μLaue 

tensile study . 

Acta materialia 60, (2012) 1252-1258. 

taylor Aidan A., cordill megan Jo, dehm gerhard, On the limits of the interfacial yield 

model for fragmentation testing of brittle films on polymer substrates . philosophical 

magazine 92, (2012) 3363-3380. 



Summary of the scientific report 

the erich Schmid institute (eSi) can look back on a successful scientific year 2012, despite 

far-reaching changes at the institute. the scientific results in 2012 are documented by more 

than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals, such as Physical Review B, Physical Review 

Letters, Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, and Philosophical Magazine. more than 40 invited 

lectured were presented by our scientists at conferences or colloquia worldwide, illustrating 

the high scientific reputation of the institute. At the 19 th european conference on fracture in 

Kasan, otmar Kolednik and Reinhard pippan both gave plenary lectures, which points out the 

impact of eSi in this research area. the institute benefits also from its junior scientists. in 2011 

and 2012, 13 of our approximately 20 phd students and 11 diploma students finished their 

degree in materials Science. 

the excellent research performed by the scientists of the institute has been honored by several 

awards. especially mentioned should be the “masing gedächtnispreis” – the highest award of 

the german material Society (dgm) for young scientists (age less than 40) for christian motz, 

the fritz grasenick award of the Austrian Society for electron microscopy as well as the fritz 

Kohlrausch Award of the Austrian physical Society for daniel Kiener and the promotion “sub 

auspiciis praesidentis” of christoph Kirchlechner. otmar Kolednik was awarded the fellowship 

of the european Structural integrity Society for his outstanding contributions to experimental 

and non-linear fracture mechanics. the organization of outstanding scientific symposia at the 

plasticity 2012 in San Juan and the 8 th european Solid mechanics conference emcS 2012 in 

graz and different workshops emphasizes the scientific visibility of the institute. Additionally we 

attract well-known international experts to eSi’s materials colloquia demonstrating again the 

high international reputation of the institute. 

the director of eSi, gerhard dehm, left the institute on 30 th September 2012, and took up 

the position as director at the max planck institute for iron Research in düsseldorf, germany. 

christian motz, one of the leading scientists in the field of micromechanics and dislocation 

simulation, accepted the offer of the University of Saarbrücken as chair of the institute for 

material Science and methods. this is one of germans materials science departments with 

the highest reputation. these appointments are indicators of the quality of the scientific output 

of the institute, especially, if one takes into account that within less than 10 years two directors 

of eSi have been appointed as max planck directors. However, this is also a challenge for 

the institute to hold the international leading position in its research areas. fortunately, Zaoli 

Zhang remains at the institute as he also had an offer to lead one of the leading transmission 

electron microscopy centers in the world at the University of marseille. With his expertise 

and the successful young scientists daniel Kiener and christoph Kirchlechner in the field 

micromechanics the institute is in a good position to solve the above mentioned challenges. 

the budget problem of the institute due to the financial crisis of the ÖAW could be solved 

by the offer of the BmWf to transfer one research group “application oriented severe plastic 

deformation” to the chair of mp. this permits to hold the personal capacity of the research 

alliance of eSi and mp despite the budget reduction in 2012. from third parties project money, 

eSi and mp purchased a new X-ray diffractometer, now the most advanced XRd system in 

Austria. Besides our synchrotron activities this investment will permit us to hold our top position 

in this research area. 



Highlight 

nanocrystalline materials and nanocomposites are one of the main topics in materials science. 

these materials exhibit enhanced mechanical strength and often unique physical properties. 

in the last 30 years different techniques have been developed to produce these new types of 

material, however, most techniques permit only the production of small quantities or to generate 

the nanostructure in the form of thin films. mechanical alloying, for example is a technique 

which permits large scale production, but only delivers a powder with undefined contamination 

of impurities. the consolidation is another important problem with this technique. the traditional 

hot compaction technique has a strong limitation of not being able to retain the nanostructure 

due to coarsening. in the last two years we have shown that severe plastic deformation of 

mixtures of different micrometer-sized powders permit the generation of similar nanostructured 

bulk materials as by mechanical alloying, but without the drawback of impurities. for several 

systems of miscible and immiscible metal-metal, metal-polymer, metal-ceramic mixtures the 

generation of nanostructured materials have been shown in several feasibility studies. this 

newly developed technique now permits the generation of a large variety of new ultrafine or 

nanostructured materials. therefore, this new technique will have an enormous impact in 

material science in the next decades. the first results are presented in: Bachmaier et al., Acta 

mater., 2012; Bachmaier, pippan, phil. mag. Letters, in press; and Bachmaier, pippan, 2013, 

international materials Review 58, 2013. 

The 5 most important publications: 

Bachmaier Andrea, Kerber m., Setman d., pippan Reinhard 


high-pressure torsion . Acta materialia 60, (2012) 860-871. 

fischer franz dieter, Simha narendra K., predan Jozef, Schöngrundner Ronald, 

Kolednik otmar 

On configurational forces at boundaries in fracture mechanics . 

international Journal of fracture 174, (2012) 61-74. 

Kiener daniel, Zhang Zaoli, Sturm S., cazottes Sophie, imrich peter Julian, Kirchlechner 

christoph, dehm gerhard, Advanced nanomechanics in the TEM: effects of thermal 

annealing on FIB prepared Cu samples . philosophical magazine 92, (2012) 3269-3289. 

Kirchlechner christoph, imrich peter Julian, grosinger Wolfgang, Kapp marlene W., Keckes 

Jozef, micha J.S., Ulrich o., thomas o., Labat S., motz christian, dehm gerhard 




taylor Aidan A., cordill megan Jo, dehm gerhard 

On the limits of the interfacial yield model for fragmentation testing of brittle films on 

polymer substrates . philosophical magazine 92, (2012) 3363-3380. 



Part II: Research Activities – Selected 

Highlights 

the next pages summarize several main scientific achievements of eSi in 2012. the portfolio 

of materials studied at eSi comprises structural materials, such as alloys and steel, materials 

for information technology (e.g. metal films on Si or flexible polymer substrates), materials 

for energy and high-temperature applications (refractory metals and advanced intermetallics), 

and novel bulk “nanomaterials” obtained by severe plastic deformation. the focus in studying 

this selection of advanced materials is to understand and predict the micro structure-property 

relations at all length scales, with a special emphasis on mechanical properties. most of the 

results described below have strong links to several of our 5 research areas, but they are 

ascribed in the following to one area only. 

Micro- and Nano-Structure Characterization 

the two most prominent techniques we are using to study structural properties at the micro and 

nano-scale are transmission electron microscopy (tem) and X-ray diffraction (XRd) performed 

in laboratory conditions and at synchrotron facilities BeSSY (Berlin), petra iii (Hamburg) and 

eSRf (grenoble). in 2012, we have concentrated on the studies of dislocation activities and 

storage in small volumes using a tem sample straining stage. We also obtained impressive 

results with the new cs-corrected tem which will advance our understanding of ultrahard 

coatings. moreover, high-temperature XRd was used to understand the influence of phase 

transformations in hard coatings on the residual stress and hardness development. the institute 

purchased a new very advanced XRd system SmartLab from Rigaku co. (Japan). 

Fig . 1 Left: A typical C S-corrected HRTEM image of the CrN-Cr interface recorded along CrN 

[011] direction. A “defective” layer between Cr and CrN exhibits apparent “stripe” features 

resulting from the ordered N vacancies. Right: A Cs-corrected STEM image recorded from 

the CrN-Cr interface. 



Revealing the relationship of the lattice constant and nitrogen vacancy 

in CrN using atomic resolution electron microscopy (Advanced 

imaging and analytics) 

transition metal nitrides like crn have, besides applications as wear-resistant coatings, recently 

gained considerable interest for its unique antiferromagnetic configurations, and have been used 

as a prototype material for strong magneto-structural interactions. the study of the atomic and 

electronic structure of crn films is of vital importance for understanding the antiferromagnetic 

property. ordered n vacancies distributed at {111} planes were detected, which lead to a 

distorted lattice. Such ordered n vacancies can form at the interface crn–cr during the film 

synthesis. Advanced tem techniques, such as electron energy-loss spectroscopy (eeLS) 

and energy-loss near-edge structure (eLneS) analysis, spherical aberration (c S)-corrected 

high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRtem) and scanning tem (Stem) and 

geometrical phase analysis (gpA), are applied to characterize the atomic and electronic 

structures of the ordered n vacancies, furthermore, exploring the relationship between the 

lattice constant and nitrogen vacancy concentration and a comparison will be made with the 

theoretical calculations using the density functional theory (dft) (cooperation with prof. c. 

mitterer, department of materials physics, Univ Leoben, cooperation with prof. draxl claudia, 

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) 

independent of the substrates used, the crn films grow frequently in a fine grained randomly 

oriented microstructure during the initial nucleation stage and then continuously grow in a 

columnar manner. However, when a cr interlayer is introduced between the crn and the 

substrate, crn can grow directly on the cr layer. the columnar grain size is about 60 -100 

nm in width. to examine the atomic and electronic structure of the interface in detail, a large 

columnar grain is selected for the atomic resolved imaging. A c S-corrected HRtem image (fig. 

1) acquired in [110] direction shows some “stripe” features along the {111} plane adjacent to the 

cr-crn interface, forming a “defective layer” (crn x) in the film. the thickness of the defect layer 

is in the range of a few to tens of nanometers. the diffractograms illustrate that the defective 

layer possesses the identical pattern as the bulk crn except a slight expansion, which means 

that it retains the same crystal structure as the crn, of fcc lattice, (also corroborated by the 

HRtem image from the [010] direction), but possesses a slightly different lattice constant. A 

cs-corrected high resolution Stem images is also shown in fig.1, in which the stripe features 

are still visible (cooperation with dr. Herbert Schmid, Leibniz-institut für neue materialien, 

Saarbrücken, germany). 

the strong distortions at the region containing numerous ordered n vacancies can be visualized 

using the geometrical phase analysis. the distortion mapping performed at the same region 

(where the eeLS analysis was carried out) clearly shows three distinguishable regions (fig. 

2a). the corresponding integrated line profile crossing the three layers shows a different 

magnitude of distortion. from the map, relative to the perfect crn layer, the defective layer is 

slightly compressed while the cr layer is somewhat expanded. the distortion distributions in 

the defective layer appears inhomogeneous, which could imply the presence of anisotropic 

distortion distributions attributed to the nitrogen vacancies located at the {111} planes. 

the displacement map (d 200) performed on the same region was acquired using the crn 

(200) reflection as shown in fig. 2b. As the defective layer retains the cubic structure and 

assuming a direct relationship between the structure and composition, the displacement map 

actually demonstrates the lattice constant (2×d 200) variations with the n vacancy, which gives 

displacement information at each individual position as comparing with the analysis of the 



Fig . 2 The distortion map using the reflections from the Cr layer clearly showing three distinct 

regions, a line profile crossing three layers integrated from a rectangular region from top to 

bottom attached below. (b) The d (200) displacement map acquired using the CrN (200) reflection, 

and an integrated line profile over a distance of ~ 12 nm as labeled by a rectangular region, 

starting at CrN about 3.0 nm away from CrN-CrN x interface and ending at the CrN x-Cr interface 

is shown below. 

debye-Scherrer ring obtained from fft (fast fourier transform) analysis of a certain area of 

the image. An integrated line profile spanning from the perfect crn layer to the interface of cr/ 

defective crn about 12 nm in length, which corresponds to the same distance as the eeLS 

linescan carried out (within the range the n/cr atomic ratio significantly changes), exhibits 

the distribution of the lattice constant. the strong fluctuations in the profile originate from the 

displacement singularities at the location of dislocations. However, the linear relationship still 

can be found by fit, which is d 200 = (0.2067 – 7.6736×10 -4 ×d) nm, where d represents the 

distance. this also reflects the change of the lattice constant (2×d 200) within the measured 

distances, signifying that the lattice constant and n vacancy variations are closely related. 

With the available data from the HRtem image and eeLS analysis performed at the same 

region crossing the defective layer, a generalized relationship between the lattice constant 

and n vacancy concentration (or the n/cr atomic ratio) can be further established. Using the 

relationship fit of lattice constant and distance (fig.2b), combined with the eeLS data acquired 

at the identical region, the variation of the lattice constant with the n vacancy concentration can 

be experimentally derived and plotted (fig.3). for comparison, the calculated relationship by 

dft (red) is also inserted, where, for convenience, the n vacancy concentration is expressed 

as (1-x)×100% for crn x and the lattice constant is described as a lattice constant ratio. 

Very interestingly, it reveals that the experimentally measured and theoretically calculated 

relationships present a similar tendency, and both display that the lattice constant gradually 

decreases with increasing the n concentration. it is clearly seen that within the error it reaches 

a reasonable agreement. in fact, it uncovers a generalized relationship between the lattice 

constant and its composition in crn, i.e. n vacancy. However, it should be pointed out that 



Fig . 3 The relationship between the lattice constant ratio and N vacancy concentration is plotted. 

The open symbols represent the calculated values using DFT, and a linear fit curve is attached. 

the structure transformation may occur when the n vacancy concentration exceeds a certain 

amount, which implies that the linear relationship between the lattice constant and vacancy 

concentration become invalidated (Zaoli Zhang et al., Physical Review B 87, 014104-9(2013)). 

Residual Stress Development in Metastable Ti 1-xAl xN Hard Coatings 

metastable face-centered cubic (fcc) ti 1-xAl xn hard coatings deposited by physical vapor 

deposition (pVd) undergo a phase transformation at high-temperatures which may be 

accompanied by coating self-strengthening. the films undergo spinodal decomposition and 

form nano-sized cubic (c) c-tin and c-Aln domains where the latter may further transform 

into stable wurtzite (w) w-Aln at temperatures above ~900°c. the first transformation is 

accompanied by a significant hardness increase, whereby the formation of w-Aln results in 

stress relaxation and hardness decay. the effect of the phase transformation on the hardness 

and residual stress changes in the films is still not fully understood. 

We have performed in situ high-temperature synchrotron XRd characterization of residual 

stress changes in a ti 0.52Al 0.48n coating on hard metal in the range 25-1003°c at the eddi 

beamline of BeSSY in Berlin (fig. 4). the experiments revealed that heating above the deposition 

temperature first results in the compressive residual stress relaxation (and hardness decrease) 

due to the structure recovery caused by the remove of crystallographic defects. further 

annealing above about 700°c stimulate the spinodal decomposition, a precipitation of nanosized 

c-tin, c-Aln and w-Aln domains, which results in the compressive stress increase and a 

dramatic hardness increase from 35 to 47gpa. finally our experimental results (combined with 

complementary hardness, tem, Raman and Sem investigations) were used to understand 

the correlation between thermal conditions, microstructural changes, stress development and 

hardness in ti 1-xAl xn Hard coatings. 



Fig . 4 In-situ HT-XRD characterization of residual stresses in the Ti-Al-N coating on WC-Co. The 

compressive residual stress relaxation in thermal-cycle (I) is followed by a steep compressive 

residual stress increase (II). In the third cycle (III) the stress changes thermo-elastically. The 

compressive stress increases in thermal-cycle II is induced by the Ti 0.52Al 0.48N decomposition, 

in particular by the fcc-AlN to w-AlN transformation. Full (open) symbols correspond to heating 

(cooling) segments of the heat-treatment experiment. 

A new SmartLab XRD System at ESI 

in 2012, eSi has purchased a new X-ray diffractometer SmartLab from Rigaku co. (Japan) 

fig. 5. it is currently the most advanced XRd system in Austria and is equipped with 5 rotation 

axes, 2 half-rotation axes, 3 translation axes, high-resolution optics and a d-tex line detector. 

the important features of the new diffractometer are the in-plane detector arm which allows 

complex microstructure and strain characterization using very complex diffraction geometries 

and a software for the self-alignment of optical components and samples. the device will be 

used for studies of texture, residual stresses, grain size and phase composition. 

Fig . 5 The new SmartLab X-ray diffractomert from Rigaku Co. purchased by ESI and MP in 

2012. 



Plasticity and Fracture 

in the 41 years history of eSi, research in the fundamental understanding of plasticity, fatigue and 

fracture has brought the institute a lot of international recognition. Research has been devoted 

on the one hand to fundamental questions, such as the proper characterization of fatigue and 

fracture properties and the scale effects of strength, ductility, and fracture resistance. Another 

permanent topic has been to explore the relation between the micro- and nanostructure of 

materials and their deformation-, fatigue-, and fracture properties. 

it is clear that the durability, i.e. the resistance against the nucleation and growth of defects, 

plays a key role in the development of new materials and components. A deep understanding of 

the relations between microstructure and properties is a basic prerequisite for the optimization 

of the microstructures of materials or components with respect to specific desired properties. 

A distinguishing feature of the experimental work at eSi in the recent years has been the 

approach to resolve the microstructure-properties relationships by investigating the influence of 

the local microstructure on the local material behaviour. this is essential for the understanding 

about complex composite or multi-phase materials. interdisciplinary research between the 

fields of materials science and digital image correlation (dic) has led to the development of 

highly sophisticated experimental techniques that allow us to perform measurements of the 

local fracture initiation toughness from quantitative fracture surface analysis and to record the 

damage evolution in materials by in situ deformation- and in situ fracture experiments in the 

scanning electron microscope (Sem). 

Fig . 6 SEM micrograph of a TRIP 800 steel. The featureless grains consist of austenite that 

partially transforms to martensite during tensile loading in the horizontal (x-) direction. The 

graphs show the displacements in transverse (y-) direction for 2.5 and 4.5 % global strain. The 

left profile, which mainly goes through ferrite, exhibits negative displacements u y due to lateral 

contraction. The right profile, which crosses the austenite grain, exhibits positive displacements 

in Region II due to the phase transformation to martensite. 



Local Deformation and Fracture Analyzes 

An example for the application of these techniques is a study on the deformation behaviour of 

a tRip-steel, which is an advanced high-strength steel used in the automotive industry. tRip 

stand for “transformation-induced plasticity”. the microstructure consists of ferrite, bainite, and 

metastable austenite. the austenite grains transform to martensite during plastic deformation. 

the accompanied volume expansion leads to improved strain hardening behaviour compared 

to steels without tRip-effect. the aim of this study was to characterize the process of phase 

transformation at a microstructural level, which is very difficult because of the small grain sizes. 

tensile tests were carried out in a high-resolution Sem to obtain highly magnified micrographs of 

the microstructure at different stages of deformation. processing of these images by dic allowed 

us to study the evolution of the local strain fields during the tensile test. After improvement of 

the experimental procedure, it was possible to examine the deformation behaviour at very high 

spatial resolution, and we succeeded in directly observing the strain-induced transformation 

of single austenitic grains, see fig. 6. the transformed grains often show characteristic, new 

surface features; an example is presented in fig. 7a,b. With this procedure, it was possible for 

the first time to directly measure the local transformation strains at various deformation stages 

[Kasberger, diploma thesis, 2012]. 

Fig . 7 Microstructure of a TRIP 800 steel with austenite grains (a) before and (b) after phase 

transformation to martensite. (c) Steps on the surface of a TiAl-Nb-Mo microstructure that 

appear due to mechanical twinning in the region near a crack tip. 

Another example is a study on the fracture behaviour of nb- and mo- alloyed titanium aluminides 

at higher temperatures. these materials are possible candidates for replacing the comparatively 

heavy nickel based alloys that are used in components subjected to high mechanical stresses 

at temperatures up to 800°c. crack growth resistance curves were measured at various 

temperatures, and the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that increase the fracture resistance, 

e.g. twinning (fig. 7c), crack ligament bridging and micro-cracking, were identified [Leitner, 

diploma thesis, 2012]. 

A third example is the development of new procedures to measure in a reproducible way 

the fracture toughness of thin-sheet fiber composites [Zechner&Kolednik, comp. Sci. technol. 

2013]. the main problem in these materials is that the crack extension cannot be determined, 

since a long process zone develops in front of the crack tip. this process zone may extend 

over the whole ligament of the specimen before the first fibers at the crack tip start to fail, and 

so the usual measurement of the crack extension is impossible. two new approaches were 



developed to overcome this problem. the first procedure consists in a combination between 

an experiment, where the cohesive zone relation [Janko et al. macromolecular Symp. 2012] 

is determined by using a special specimen geometry, and subsequent numerical simulation. 

in the second approach, a deformation experiment is conducted where a critical local strain 

near the process zone is determined via dic, so that the load bearing capacity of the material 

decreases nearly to zero. the critical strain is then used to define the location of the crack tip. 

the applicability of the two approaches is demonstrated on commercial printing paper as a 

model material and, for the first time, a reproducible fracture toughness parameter could be 

determined. 

Research has been expanded in the recent years into new areas, such as the deformation and 

fracture behaviour of materials and components at the micro- or nano-scale (see the section 

micro- and nano-mechanics) and the deformation and the fracture behaviour of nanocrystalline 

metals that are produced by high-pressure torsion (Hpt), see the section Severe plastic 

deformation (Spd). An example for these works is the development of a new procedure to 

measure the fracture toughness of free-standing micrometer-sized hard coatings by microcantilever 

bending experiments [Riedl et al. Scripta mater. 2012]. 

Cracks in Inhomogeneous Materials 

in the recent years, much progress has been made at eSi in the investigation of the behaviour 

of cracks in inhomogeneous materials. interdisciplinary research spanning the areas of 

materials science, mechanics and thermodynamics has brought new impetus in the form of the 

application of the configurational forces concept. configurational forces are thermodynamic 

forces that act on all types of defects (vacancies, dislocations, grain boundaries, cracks) in 

materials. A material inhomogeneity is considered as an additional defect that can either shield 

the crack tip from the external loading or amplify the effect of external loading (anti-shielding). 

the configurational forces concept takes this into account by introducing an additional crack 

driving force term, denominated as the “material inhomogeneity term”. the magnitude of the 

crack driving force determines whether a crack in a statically loaded structure can grow or not. 

for a cyclically loaded structure, the crack driving force determines the crack growth rate and 

the lifetime of the component. A series of theoretical and numerical papers has been written 

about these topics in the recent years, e.g. [fischer et al., int. J. fract., 2012a]. for various types 

of inhomogeneous materials and components, we have found excellent agreement between 

the predictions of this concept and experimental results. 

the configurational forces concept has allowed us to shed new light on fundamental problems 

in nonlinear fracture mechanics that had been unsolved for decades. We have succeeded in 

deriving a measure of the crack driving force in terms of a J-integral, which is applicable for 

elastic-plastic materials also under conditions of non-proportional loading, e.g. for crack growth 

under cyclic loading. Another example of a useful expansion of the J-integral concept has 

been presented in [fischer et al., int. J. fract., 2012b]. it should be mentioned here that prof. 

Kolednik was invited to write a chapter “fracture mechanics” in the new edition of the Wiley 

encyclopedia of composites [Kolednik, encyclopedia of composites, 2012]. 

Design of Fracture Resistant Materials and Composites 

the influence of material inhomogeneities on the crack driving force offers new possibilities 

for developing novel damage-tolerant and fracture-resistant materials and components. the 



idea is to introduce intentional variations of material properties and/or residual stresses so 

that the crack driving force becomes low and a crack stops to grow. inspired by the composite 

architecture of especially fracture resistant biomaterials (skeletons of deep-sea glass sponges), 

a criterion has been developed for the optimum design of lamellar structures consisting of 

a high-strength material and thin, soft interlayers, so that they combine high stiffness and 

high fracture toughness. this concept has been transferred to engineering applications by the 

introduction of soft interlayers into sheets of a high-strength aluminium alloy Al7075. two kinds 

of composites were investigated: in the first, the aluminium sheets are separated by polymer 

layers, where both the Young’s moduli and the yield strength of the constituents are different. 

in the second composite, layers of pure aluminium are introduced by roll bonding; in this case 

the elastic properties are identical, only the yield strength differs. the experiments show that 

both multilayers exhibit a very strong increase in fracture resistance after crack arrest in the 

soft interlayers, fig. 8. 

Fig . 8 Fracture mechanics experiment on a multilayer with high-strength aluminium alloy 

Al7075 separated by soft polymer layers. The fracture resistance increases dramatically after 

crack arrest in the soft interlayers so that the maximum fracture toughness becomes 450 times 

larger than that of the homogeneous Al7075. 

equations have been derived that allow the estimate of the maximum fracture toughness from 

the specimen geometry and the mechanical properties for these composites [Zechner and 

Kolednik, eng. fract. mech. in press]. in fatigue crack growth experiments it was found that the 

increase in fatigue life is much higher for the multilayer with the Young’s modulus inhomogeneity 

than for the one with the yield strength inhomogeneity [Zechner, ph.d. thesis 2012]. 

consideration of the material inhomogeneity term reveals that the “ideal” interlayer material for a 

multilayer should be air, since then the relative jumps of the Young’s modulus and yield strength 

for a given base material, and consequently the shielding effect of the material inhomogeneity, 

are maximized. By simply taking paper as a model material, it is demonstrated that the fracture 

toughness increases by a factor 10 and printing paper can reach the fracture toughness of 

steel, if arranged in a crack arrester configuration [Zechner, ph.d. thesis 2012]. Relations were 

derived in order to quantify the effect for other materials. We are certainly at the leading edge 

of research in the field of the design of materials and composite with highly improved fracture 

resistance. 



Micro- / Nanomechanics 

the knowledge of mechanical properties in small dimensions is essential not only for micronsized 

specimens used in semiconductor industry, medical devices, etc. but also for advanced 

materials that utilize structural features typically in the micro- and nanometer regime to improve 

mechanical performance (see sections deformation, fatigue and fracture, and Synthesis of 

Bulk nano-materials and -composites by Severe plastic deformation). Hence, it is of general 

interest in materials science to understand the underlying physical processes, which govern the 

mechanical response of a wide spectrum of materials. in the last 10 years eSi has developed 

several new techniques to investigate the mechanical properties at small length scales. nano- 

and micromechanical tests are performed under compression, tension, bending and fatigue 

loading. different materials and microstructures are used like single crystals, bi-crystals, and 

nano-crystalline metals. this permits the study of the influence of microstructural features (e.g. 

grain boundaries) and loading conditions (e.g. monotonic vs. cyclic loading, temperature) on 

the plastic deformation behavior and enables the understanding of the underlying processes. 

in this section a short overview on the current activities in this field at eSi is given. 

Fig . 9 Quantitative nano-mechanical in situ compression testing of a thermally annealed Cu 

pillar in the TEM. (a)-(h) Individual fixed-images extracted from the recorded loading video. (j) 

The global engineering stress (black symbols) and the local contact pressure corresponding to 

the individual fixed-images (red diamonds). 

In-situ nano-mechanical testing of annealed Cu in the TEM 

the uncommon properties of miniaturized metallic objects have received intense interest over 

the last years, and there is a highly active and internationally visible group established at the 

eSi focusing on strength and deformation of miniaturized objects. the effect of focused ion 

beam (fiB) fabrication, which is the dominant technique for creating small scale test objects, 

on the mechanical properties of miniaturized mechanical tests has been realized, but is not 

well documented. therefore, the effect of post thermal annealing on the plastic properties of 

fiB fabricated micro- and nanometer-sized cu samples was studies by means of advanced 



analytic and in situ transmission electron microscopy. In situ heating experiments on thin 

films and pillars revealed a reduction of the initially high dislocation density, but never a 

recovery of the bulk dislocation density. Aberration-corrected atomic imaging documented the 

recovery of a pristine crystalline surface structure upon annealing, while electron energy-loss 

spectroscopy showed that the remaining contamination layer consisted of amorphous carbon. 

these structural observations were combined with the mechanical data from in situ tensile and 

compression tests of annealed micro- and nanometer-sized tensile and compression samples 

performed in the Sem and tem (see fig. 9a-h). the thermal annealing in the micron regime 

mainly influences the initial yield point, as it reduces the number of suited dislocation sources, 

while the flow behavior is mostly unaffected. Regarding the submicron samples shown here, 

the annealed material shows a yield point where dislocation nucleation takes place close to 

the theoretical strength of the material. Additionally, it sustains significantly higher stresses 

throughout the deformation (fig. 9j) compared to fiB prepared samples of comparable 

diameter. this is explained by the high stresses required for surface mediated dislocation 

nucleation of the annealed material, whereas for the fiB affected samples the near surface 

defects facilitated dislocation nucleation, thereby lowering the material strength. 

these results were published recently in: d. Kiener, Z. Zhang, S. Sturm, S. cazottes, p. J. 

imrich, c. Kirchlechner, and g. dehm: Advanced nanomechanics in the tem: effects of thermal 

annealing on fiB prepared cu samples. phil. mag. A 92, 3269 (2012). notably, this manuscript 

involving several eSi scientists was also awarded the fritz grasenick award 2012 from the 

Austrian Society for electron microscopy (ASem). 

Fig . 10 Peak shape evolution of a selected Laue peak after deformation along the length and 

width of a) a single crystalline cantilever with a step size of 2 µm and b) a single crystalline 

cantilever with a slit along the neutral axis exhibiting a step size of 1 µm. The compression side 

is above, the tensile side below. The bright area corresponds to the sample volume. 

Bending experiments on single crystalline and bicrystalline Copper 

microcantilevers: 

the sample size effect on strength is one of the most controversially discussed phenomena 

in material science in the last decade. there are several explanations proposed. the most 

prominent are strain gradient plasticity, dislocation starvation, dislocation source limiting 

mechanisms and dislocation pile-up. microcantilevers are one of the model systems. due to 

a stress and strain gradient, microcantilevers exhibit varying mechanical response compared 

to microtensile and microcompression samples. thereby the dislocation structure, especially 

the pile-up of geometrically necessary dislocations (gnds) near the neutral axis, plays a 

predominant role. three cantilever geometries with different expansions of the dislocation pileup 

were applied (fig. 11a). consequently, higher and lower magnitudes of long-range pile-up 

stresses were generated during loading. 



one characteristic of single crystalline microcantilevers is the so called Bauschinger effect, 

which is reflected by a nonlinear unloading behavior in the stress-strain curves (fig. 11b). 

this is attributed to the partial dissolution of the gnd pile-up upon unloading induced by 

pile-up stresses. this reverse motion of gnds during unloading was for the first time clearly 

confirmed by in situ µLaue experiments (fig. 10) in terms of a reduction of the gnd density, 

which is proportional to the full Width at Half maximum (fWHm, fig. 11c). the higher pile-up 

stresses in bicrystalline cantilevers led to a greater reduction of the gnd density. Hence, a 

more pronounced Bauschinger effect was observed. Because of marginal pile-up stresses in 

the single crystalline cantilever with the slit along the neutral axis, the gnd density was only 

slightly reduced and a Bauschinger effect was almost missing. 

A significant contribution of the pile-up stress to the size-effect was demonstrated by comparing 

the stress level of the three different cantilever geometries at comparable strain values. it was 

clearly evidenced that the stress level was increased for higher magnitudes of the pile-up stress. 

these experiments show for the first time very clearly that the dislocation pile-up is, besides 

the standard strain gradient plasticity, one of the dominant mechanisms in microcantilevers. 

Fig . 11 a) Schematic diagrams of three different microcantilever geometries: single crystalline, 

bicrystalline, single crystalline with slit along the neutral axis. b) Stress-strain curves of the 

three cantilever geometries reveal different unloading curves and varying hardening behavior. 

c) The µLaue data describe the evolution of the GND density (FWHM) during loading and 

unloading. 

Fatigue of microbeams 

due to the high strength of nanocrystalline and ultrafine grained materials this new class 

of materials is a candidate for heavily loaded components. Besides the strength also the 



fatigue properties are of essential importance. cyclic loading can induce softening and crack 

generation, these are the most important fatigue controlling phenomena in these types of 

materials. due to the very local processes it is difficult to study these mechanisms in macrosized 

samples. fatigue experiments of ultra-fine grained cu microbeams have been subjected 

to fatigue and low cycle fatigue loading. the coarsening and the initiation of crack like defects 

could be analyzed in detail. for the first time it could be shown that micrometer sized samples 

offer the possibilities to study these phenomena in detail. examples of this observation are 

presented in fig. 12 

Fig . 12 Illustration of the micro beam fatigue experiment performed on ultrafine grained Cu. (a) 

shows the in situ loading of the sample, (b1-b4) illustrates the damage evolution with increasing 

loading cycles, and (c and d) visualizes the coarsening of microstructure by orientation 

micrographs and BSE images, the original grain size is visible in the undeformed and less 

deformed areas of the sample. In (d) the neutral axis is indicated as a blue line. 



Complex Materials 

Several aspects of our wide variety of materials have been discussed in previous sections, 

especially dual-phase and complex phase steels, damage tolerant materials (see section 

deformation, fatigue, fracture) and nanocrystalline bulk materials (see next section Synthesis 

of Bulk nano-materials and composites by Severe plastic deformation), which could be as 

well listed here. other material systems we study intensively are thin film structures, which 

are scientifically interesting due to the numerous internal interfaces that significantly influence 

the film and film/substrate properties. in this section we want to highlight our recent research 

achievements concerning adhesion and fracture of brittle and ductile films on compliant 

substrates, spanning from metal/polymer to ceramic/metal systems. 

Advances in Fragmentation Testing of Thin Films 

the reliability of flexible electronics depends upon the ability of metal thin films, both brittle 

and ductile, to bend and stretch with the supporting polymer substrate while maintaining 

mechanical and electrical integrity. experiments to measure these behaviors are mostly based 

on fragmentation testing. A key element to fragmentation testing is the detection of the fracture 

strain or stress. this detection can be easily performed with an optical microscope or scanning 

electron microscope while straining (in situ). Brittle films or coatings will form channel cracks 

perpendicular to the straining direction and channel cracks are easy to detect, thus failure is 

also easily determined. However, ductile films, such as Au, cu, or Ag (all materials being used 

as conduction carrying elements in flexible electronics) plastically deform before channel cracks 

are observed. the localized plastic deformation, or necks (necking), are the first sign of yield in 

the film and are hard to observe with om or Sem. the implementation of fragmentation testing 

with atomic force microscopy (Afm) is a solution that allows for the detection of initial film yield 

and measurement of the deformation density and channel crack density as a function of strain. 

necking and channel cracks are observed using height images and the difference in surface 

profiles (fig. 13). the technique works well when there is a specific criterion to define a channel 

crack versus localized deformation (necking). Brittle films match Sem experiments very well 

while ductile films do not. the greatly improved height resolution of the Afm compared to the 

Sem is the reason for this discrepancy. these results lead one to believe that fragmentation 

Fig . 13 a) AFM height image at 2% strain with the surface profile and necks indicated by 

the white arrows. b) Surface profiles at 2% and 15% strain. c) AFM height image at 15% 

strain of the same area as (a) with the surface profile and channel cracks indicated with black 

arrows and the position of necks with white arrows and circled areas indicate where a neck has 

become a channel crack. Note the ~x2 difference in height scales in a) and c). 



testing with the Afm is a good method to study the deformation behavior of ductile films and to 

be able to compare them with other films on soft substrates. 

further fragmentation experiments include in situ synchrotron tensile tests operated at the 

Kmc ii beam line at the Berliner elektronenspeicherring-gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung 

(BeSSY ii) in Berlin. the common sin²ψψ method was used to obtain the copper lattice strains in 

longitudinal (parallel to straining direction) and transverse (perpendicular to straining direction) 

directions to measure the stresses in the films during straining. the results of the film stresses 

of 50, 100 and 200 nm cu films are shown in fig. 14 for both directions. All curves of the 

longitudinal direction exhibit nearly the same progression (fig. 14a). the film stresses initially 

rise with increasing strain up to a peak stress, after which the stresses decrease due to the 

plastic deformation and crack formation until a plateau is reached at about 5-8% strain. the 

stresses decrease into the compressive region during the unloading of the sample. Because 

of the mismatch of the poisson ratios between copper and polyimide, the film stresses of all 

different thicknesses show lower values in the transverse direction than in the longitudinal 

(fig. 14b). All samples exhibit the same film thickness tendency: the higher the film thickness 

the higher are the film stresses. the stresses can be directly compared to Sem and Afm 

fragmentation experiments and the peak stresses correspond to the initial yielding of the films. 

the plateau stresses relate to when crack saturation is reached. 

Fig . 14 Results of the film stresses for the 50, 100 and 200 nm thick Cu films in (a) longitudinal 

and (b) transverse sample direction. The plateaus were indicated by straight lines. The images 

in the left edge show the cracked sample strained in tension with the measured x-ray direction 

(white arrows). 

Mechanically Robust Film-Substrate System 

mechanical properties of metal films on polymer substrates are normally studied in terms of 

the fracture and adhesion of the film, while the properties of the polymer substrate and testing 

conditions were overlooked. Substrate orientation and thickness, as well as strain rate and 

temperature effects are examined using cr films deposited onto polyethylene terephthalate 

(pet) substrates. the effects of substrate orientation and thickness, strain rate and temperature 

have been examined for cr films on pet. only temperature alters the film fracture and buckling 

behavior when strained at higher temperatures of 70nm and 150nm thick cr films on pet. the 

average crack spacing of the films increased when strained at 80°c or 180°c and the buckle 

shape changed from a sharp to a smooth, rounded cross-section with increased temperature 

(fig. 15). the change in buckle size and shape corresponded to a qualitative decrease in 

the adhesion energy and no substrate deformation underneath buckles at high temperatures 



was found. With all of these material and testing conditions in mind, cr and pet have been 

shown to be ideal materials for flexible electronics. As thin layers, less than 20nm, are typically 

used as adhesion layers, the 15nm cr film has exhibited ideal mechanical behavior at room 

temperature. All of these results indicate that the cr coated pet is a robust material system 

through a wide variety of mechanical testing conditions and environments illustrating its large 

potential for flexible electronic applications. 

Fig . 15 SEM image of the 70 nm Cr film strained to 6% at room temperature (a) and at 180°C 

(b). The images were recorded at the same magnification and clearly illustrate different 

buckling modes and buckle spacings at higher temperatures. At room temperature the buckles 

are pointed and cracked while at 180°C the buckles are rounded and un-cracked. 

Electro-Mechanically Self-Healing Films 

it has been demonstrated that the electrical resistance of a 200nm cu film on pet recovers 

after straining. coupled 4-point-probe resistance measurements and uni-axial tensile straining 

were utilized to record the electro-mechanical properties during loading, unloading, and after 

24hrs of the film-substrate system. during tensile straining the resistance increases more 

than predicted by the constant volume approximation mostly due to plastic deformation and 

channel crack formation. the growth of resistance of the strained films follows the analytical 

Fig . 16 Relative resistance vs. relative elongation for three values of maximum strain: 5% 

(blue), 10% (red), and 20% (black). The error bars correspond to the standard deviation of 10 

measurements. The solid circle, square and triangle show the final resistances and elongations 

measured after 24 hours for peak strain of 5%, 10%, and 20%, respectively. The area L/L 0=(1.00 

to 1.05) is enlarged in the inset. (b) FIB cross-section of a crack in Cu film. Upon yielding, the 

Cu film first thinned locally and at higher strains, the channel crack formed at an angle to the 

surface. 



constant volume approximation up to approximately 2% strain, then dramatically increasing 

after (fig. 16a). the faster growth can be attributed to the lack of ductility because of the small 

grain size. Upon unloading and after a 24hrs period, the amount of resistance recovery varies 

depending on the maximum applied strain. for a maximum strain of 5% the resistance of the 

film after straining is lower than originally measured. the resistance recovery is attributed to a 

reduction of the defect density and grain boundary defects as well as crack closure (fig. 16b). 

it was found that a compressive stress was measured in the film at a load of 0n (approximately 

-400 mpa) and an assumed constant compressive stress after removal from the tensile stage. 

plastic deformation in the cu film causes the compressive stress and the viscoelastic behavior 

of the pet is the reason behind the continued recovery after straining. in order to properly 

characterize and compare the electro-mechanical behavior of metal films on polymers for 

flexible electronic applications, not only the behavior at a maximum stress or strain should be 

examined, but also during unloading and at least several hours afterward. 

Decrease in Adhesion with Altered Interface Microstructure 

titanium layers are used to promote adhesion between polymer substrates for flexible 

electronics and the cu or Au conducting lines. good adhesion of conducting lines in flexible 

circuits is critical in improving circuit performance and increasing circuit lifetime. nominally 50 

nm thick ti films on polyimide (pi) are investigated by fragmentation testing under uniaxial 

tensile load in the as-deposited state, at 350°c, and after annealing. the cracking and buckling 

of the films show clear differences between the as-deposited and the thermally treated samples, 

cracks are much straighter and buckles are smaller following heat treatment. these changes 

are correlated to a drop in adhesion of the samples following heat treatment. Adhesion values 

are determined from the buckle dimensions using a total energy approach. cross-sectional 

transmission electron microscopy (tem) of the ti/pi interface found evidence of a 5 nm thick 

interlayer between the largely columnar ti and the amorphous pi. the tem study infers that the 

difference in adhesion caused by heat treatment of these ti films is linked to the crystallisation 

of an interlayer between the ti and pi (fig. 17). the implications of this for the processing, use 

and lifetimes of flexible electronic circuits are extensive. Additionally, this greater understanding 

of how ti acts as an effective adhesion layer between polymers and metallisation materials 

such as Au and cu could lead to more failure-resistant, flexible circuitry. 

Fig. 17 Cross-sectional TEM micrographs of the Ti/PI interface of an as-deposited sample(left) 

and (right) and a 350°C tested sample. 



Adhesion of Microelectronic Interfaces 

printed circuit boards (pcBs) are the backbone of the electronics industry. every device 

from a cellular phone to an alarm clock has a pcB at its core. the pcB adds stability to 

the electrical grid designed between its layers and also acts as a stiff substrate to added 

components like transistors and capacitors. A pcB is a layered structure with a core made of 

a glass fiber polymer composite or an epoxy resin that may contain fillers. in order to attach 

larger components to the pcB, solders are utilized. during soldering the pcB is heated to 

250°c, the temperature at which solder melts, and the components pressed into the pcB. 

the soldering process is accompanied with thermal loading of the pcB and hence, due to 

material combinations with different thermal expansion (polymer composites, metals) stresses 

are induced. the thermal stability of a board is tested with the reflow test, which is an integral 

part of the qualification procedure of new board designs. However, thermal cycling can cause 

the pcBs to develop cracks and delaminations between the layers of pre-preg and conducing 

materials. delaminations need to be avoided and detected as early as possible, because they 

will reduce the lifetime of electronic devices. delaminations have been shown to be driven by 

three main mechanisms: thermal mismatch between the different materials, swelling due to 

moisture absorption and interface strength degradation after thermal cycling and it is important 

to study how the interface strength degrades with thermal cycling. four point bending (4pB) 

is used to measure pcB adhesion (fig. 18). With this type of test the whole pcB could be 

characterized as a function of thermal cycles. these experiments will be combined with 

advanced microscopy techniques to examine microstructure and chemistry changes. this 

combination will help determine delamination mechanism of the reflow test to improve reliability. 

Fig . 18 Example 4PB experiment on a PCB after 0 reflow cycles and after 15 reflow cycles the 

correct interface failed in 2 of 3 samples 



Synthesis of Bulk Nano-Materials and Composites 

by Severe Plastic Deformation 

As one major technique for the production of ultrafine-grained and nanocrystalline metals 

and alloys various methods of Severe plastic deformation (Spd) have emerged over the last 

decade. the peculiar mechanical and functional properties of materials synthesized by these 

techniques have sparked the interest of many scientists for these relatively new production 

techniques. the eSi-Spd group is known to have a world leading position in this community. 

their main interests and activities are as follows: 

l the synthesis of novel nanocomposites and supersaturated solid solutions by mechanical 

alloying [Bachmaier et al., Inter. Mater. Rev. 2013, 58-1, 41-62] 

l the analyses of mechanical properties covering strength, ductility, fracture and 

fatigue properties of Spd-processed materials. [Hohenwarter et al., mater. Sci. eng 

A 2012, 540, 89] 

l the impact of grain architecture on the mechanical properties [Rathmayr et al., 

mater. Sci. eng. A 2013, 560, 224] 

l ongoing collaborations with the groups of m. Zehetbauer, Univ. of Vienna, R. grössinger, 

tU Wien, n. Hansen, Risoe, H.W. Zang, Shenyang, Z. Horita, Kyushu University, 

X. Sauvage, University of Rouen, Y. champion, icmpe-cnRS University of 

paris and R. Würschum and W. Sprengl from tU graz. 

in order to provide a deeper insight into the work performed over the last year, two highlights 

of the current research are presented: 

in the field generation of supersaturated solid solutions the system Ag-ni was of great 

interest due to its interesting magnetic properties. this binary system exhibits a large positive 

mixing enthalpy and is immiscible in the solid and liquid phases. powder mixtures with different 

amounts of Ag were consolidated and deformed with the newly introduced 2-step high pressure 

torsion process. fig. 19a shows the hardness distribution along the Hpt disc after the first and 

the second processing steps for two different compositions. 

After the first step, a saturation in hardness evolves and a minimum in structure fragmentation 

is reached. the representative microstructure for this first saturation is presented in fig. 19b 

for a sample with 19 at% Ag. A lamellar Ag-phase is embedded in the ultrafine-grained nickel 

phase. the second production step induces a change in the deformation path and, therefore, a 

much higher efficiency in structural fragmentation. this leads to a further increase in hardness 

and additional grain refinement down to grain sizes of approximately 10-20 nm, see fig. 19c. 

in this size regime single grains or areas of Ag and ni are not distinguishable anymore. A 

corresponding XRd-study revealed that the discrete Ag-phase vanished, see fig. 19d, which 

implies a full dissolution of the Ag-phase or in other words a supersaturated solid solutions of 

Ag in ni. this example shows the efficiency and simplicity of using Spd for the production of 

such nanocomposites. 

the second example presented here focuses on the mechanical properties of Spd 

processed materials. one well investigated example in the eSi-Spd group is pearlitic steel. An 

example of the typical lamellar microstructure consisting of a ferritic and a cementite phase 



Fig . 19 Overview of important features of Ag-Ni processing. (a) Hardness distribution for different 

compositions after the first and second processing step. (b) Typical saturation microstructure 

after the first deformation step. (c) Microstructure after the second deformation step. (d) XRDprofiles 

representing the first deformation step (bottom) and the second for distinctive radii 

along the disk. 

is shown in fig. 20a. this traditional material has been thoroughly investigated for half of the 

last century. nevertheless, it is still a material with great scientific potential. Subjecting such 

a material to methods of Spd can lead to a full alignment of the lamellar microstructure (fig. 

20b) and a decrease in the lamellar spacing resulting in a tremendous increase of strength. 

Very similar findings are well known from wire drawing. Unfortunately, the increase in strength 

comes with a drastic decrease in fracture toughness. Whereas in the undeformed material 

quasi-cleavage occurs, fig. 20a, in the severely deformed state a de-cohesion process along 

the aligned lamellar structure is typical and results in extremely low fracture toughness values, 

comparable to refractory metals or ceramics, fig. 20b. Although this low fracture 



Fig . 20 Comparison of different microstructures ranging from coarse-structured lamellar (a) 

over nanostructured lamellar reaching strength levels of 3GPa and more (b) to nanostructured 

globular (c) and the corresponding fracture appearance Here cleavage fracture (a), lamellar 

decohesion (b) and microductile fracture (c) can be seen. 

toughness occurs only in a testing direction parallel to the aligned structure and induces even 

an exceptional fracture toughness in other testing directions (for instance perpendicular to the 

alignment), it represents a potential drawback for possible applications, especially when safety 

and reliability issues are of concern. 

one feasible strategy to overcome this shortcoming is to apply different heat-treatments. 

these treatments lead to a structural transformation from a nano-lamellar, fig. 2b, into a nanoglobular 

microstructure, see fig. 2c, which consists of ultrafine ferritc grains decorated with 

carbides. this change in the microstructural architecture induces microductile fracture, as 

shown in fig. 20c, and reduces the aforementioned exceptional strength only marginally, but 

increases the fracture resistance enormously and reduces the anisotropy. 

the effect of grain shape, anisotropy and texture is the topic of a new fWf-project 

(p24141-n19) 



Part III: General Information and 

Statistics 

Publications 

2012 2011 

publications in Scientific Journals 54 59 

phd theses 2 11 

diploma theses 6 5 

invited Lectures 40 48 

contributed Lectures 102 63 

poster contributions 24 14 

Publications in Scientific Journals 2012 

1. Aifantis Katerina e., Weygand daniel, motz christian, nikitas nikolaos, Zaiser michael 

Modeling microbending of thin films through discrete dislocation dynamics, 

continuum dislocation theory, and gradient plasticity . 

Journal of materials Research 27, (2012) 612-618. 

2. Bachmaier Andrea, Kerber m., Setman d., pippan Reinhard 


high-pressure torsion . 


3. Bartosik matthias, daniel R., Zhang Zaoli, deluca m., ecker Werner, Stefenelli mario, 

Klaus m., genzel c., mitterer christian, Keckes Jozef 

Lateral gradients of phases, residual stress and hardness in a laser heated 

Ti0 .52Al0 .48N coating on hard metal . 

Surface & coatings technology 206, (2012) 4502-4510. 

4. cha Limei, Schmoelzer thomas, Zhang Zaoli, mayer Svea, clemens Helmut, Staron 

peter, dehm gerhard 

In Situ Study of γ-TiAl Lamellae Formation in Supersaturated α2-Ti3Al Grains . 

Advanced engineering materials 14, (2012) 299-303. 



5. cordill megan Jo, taylor Aidan A., Berger J., Schmidegg Klaus, dehm gerhard 

Robust mechanical performance of chromiumcoated polyethylene terephthalate 

over a broad range of conditions . 

philosophical magazine 92, (2012) 3346-3362. 

6. dehm gerhard, pharr george m., michler Johann 

EDITORIAL: Nanomechanical testing in materials research and development III . 


7. dehm gerhard, Howe James m., Zweck Josef 

In-situ Electron Microscopy . 

in: Viley-VcH Verlag & co. KgaA, Leoben, charlottesville, Regensburg, (2012) 1-383. 

8. dunstan d.J., gallé J.U., Hou X.d., p’ng K.m.Y., Bushby A.J., Yang Bo, Kiener daniel 

Yield and plastic flow of soft metals in small volumes loaded in tension and 

flexure . 


9. edwards darren, Sabirov ilshat, Sigle W., pippan Reinhard 

Microstructure and thermostability of a W–Cu nanocomposite produced via 

high-pressure torsion . 


10. fischer franz dieter, predan Jozef, fratzl peter, Kolednik otmar 

Semi-analytical approaches to assess the crack driving force in periodically 

heterogeneous elastic materials . 


11. fischer franz dieter, Simha narendra K., predan Jozef, Schöngrundner Ronald, 




12. fischer franz dieter, Simha narendra K., predan Jozef, Schöngrundner Ronald, 



in: micromechanics of defects in Solids; Ariza, pilar m. (eds), Sevilla: Springer 

Science+Business media B.V., (2012) 1-15. 

13. fischlschweiger michael, ecker Werner, pippan Reinhard 

Technical NoteVerification of a continuum mechanical explanation of plasticityinduced 

crack closure under plain strain conditions by means of finite element 

analysis . 

engineering fracture mechanics 96, (2012) 762-765. 

14. gindl-Altmutter Wolfgang, Keckes Jozef, plackner Johannes, Liebner falk, englund 

Karl, Laborie marie-pierre 

All-cellulose composites prepared from flax and lyocell fibres compared to 

epoxy–matrix composites . 

composites Science and technology 72, (2012) 1304-1309. 



15. gindl-Altmutter Wolfgang, Keckes Jozef 

The structure and mechanical properties of spines from the cactus opuntia 

ficusindica . 

Bio Resources 7, (2012) 1232-1237. 

16. groessinger R., mehboob n., Kriegisch m., Bachmaier Andrea, pippan Reinhard 

Frequency Dependence of the Coercivity of Soft Magnetic Materials . 

ieee transactions on magnetics 48, (2012) 1473-1476. 

17. Hohenwarter Anton, pippan Reinhard 

A comprehensive study on the damage tolerance of ultrafine-grained copper . 

materials Science and engineering A 540, (2012) 89-96. 

18. Hosemann peter, Kiener daniel, Wang Yongqiang, maloy Stuart A. 

Issues to consider using nano indentation on shallow ion beam irradiated 

materials . 

Journal of nuclear materials 425, (2012) 136-139. 

19. Hostert c., music d., Bednarcik J., Keckes Jozef, Schneider J.m. 

Quantum mechanically guided design of Co43Fe20Ta5 .5X31 .5 (X = B, Si, P, S) 

metallic glasses . 

Journal of physics condensed mater 24, (2012) 175402(9pp). 

20. Janko marian, ecker Werner, pinter gerald, Kolednik otmar 

Numerical Simulation of Crack Growth in Polyethylene Composites by Means of 

the Cohesive Zone Model . 

macromolecular Symposia 311, (2012) 1-8. 

21. Keckes Jozef, Bartosik matthias, daniel R., mitterer christian, maier günther, ecker 

Werner, Vila-comamala J., david c., Schoeder S., Burghammer m. 

X-ray nanodiffraction reveals strain and microstructure evolution in 

nanocrystalline thin films . 

Scripta materialia 67, (2012) 748-751. 

22. Kiener daniel, Kaufmann petra, minor Andrew m. 

Strength, Hardening, and Failure Observed by In Situ TEM Tensile Testing . 


23. Kiener daniel, minor Andrew m., Anderoglu osman, Wang Yongqiang, maloy Stuart 

A., Hosemann peter 

Application of small -scale testing for investigation of ion-beam-irradiated 

materials . 

Journal of materials Research 27, (2012) 2724-2736. 

24. Kiener daniel, Zhang Zaoli, Sturm S., cazottes Sophie, imrich peter Julian, 

Kirchlechner christoph, dehm gerhard 

Advanced nanomechanics in the TEM: effects of thermal annealing on FIB 

prepared Cu samples . 




25. Kim Hwang Su, Zhang Zaoli, Kaiser Ute 

Local symmetry breaking of a thin crystal structure of β-Si3N4 as revealed 

by spherical aberration corrected high-resolution transmission electron 

microscopy images . 

Journal of electron microscopy 61, (2012) 145-157. 

26. Kirchlechner christoph, grosinger Wolfgang, Kapp marlene W., imrich peter Julian, 

micha J.-S., Ulrich o., Keckes Jozef, dehm gerhard, motz christian 

Investigation of reversible plasticity in a micron-sized, single crystalline copper 

bending beam by X-ray μLaue diffraction . 


27. Kirchlechner christoph, imrich peter Julian, grosinger Wolfgang, Kapp marlene W., 

Keckes Jozef, micha J.S., Ulrich o., thomas o., Labat S., motz christian, dehm 

gerhard 




28. Kolednik otmar 

Fracture Mechanics . 

in: Wiley encyclopedia of composites, nicolais L., Borzacchiello A. (eds), 2. Aufl.; 

Hoboken, new Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, new Jersey, USA, (2012) 1126- 

1141. 

29. Krywka christina, neubauer Henrike, priebe marius, Salditt tim, Keckes Jozef, Buffet 

Adeline, Volkher Roth Stephan, doehrmann Ralph, mueller martin 

A two-dimensional waveguide beam for X-ray nanodiffraction . 

Journal of Applied crystallography 45, (2012) 85-92. 

30. Lackner J.m., Waldhauser W., Hartmann p., miskovics o., Schmied f., teichert 

christian, Schöberl thomas 

Self-assembling (nano-)wrinkling topography formation in low-temperature 

vacuum deposition on soft polymer surfaces . 

thin Solid films 520, (2012) 2833-2840. 

31. Li Hong, Wurster Stefan, motz christian, Romaner Lorenz, Ambrosch-draxl claudia, 

pippan Reinhard 

Dislocation-core symmetry and slip planes in tungsten alloys: A initio 

calculations and microcantilever bending experiments . 


32. meisels R., glushko oleksandr, Kuchar f. 

Tuning the flow of light in seminconductor-based photonic crystals by magnetic 

fields . 

photonic and nanostructures - fundamentals and Applications 10, (2012) 60-68. 



33. moser gabriele, felber Herwig, Rashkova Boriana, imrich peter Julian, Kirchlechner 

christoph, grosinger Wolfgang, motz christian, dehm gerhard, Kiener daniel 

Sample Preparation by Metallography and Focused Ion Beam for 

Nanomechanical Testing . 

practical metallography 49, (2012) 343-355. 

34. motz christian, dunstan d.J. 

Observation of the critical thickness phenomenon in dislocation dynamics 

simulation of microbeam bending . 


35. parz peter, faller michael, pippan Reinhard, puff Werner, Würschum Roland 

Defects in Al-3 wt%Cu after high pressure torsion studied by two-dimensional 

Doppler broadening spectroscopy . 

physics procedia 35, (2012) 10-15. 

36. parz peter, faller michael, pippan Reinhard, Reingruber Herbert, puff Werner, 

Würschum Roland 

Microstructure and vacancy-type defects of high-pressure torsion deformed 

Al-3 wt%Cu alloy . 

Journal of Applied physics 112, (2012) 103506-1-7. 

37. pogatscher S., Antrekowitsch H., Leitner H., pöschmann daniel, Zhang Zaoli, 

Uggowitzer peter 

Influence of interrupted quenching on artificial aging of Al-Mg-Si alloys . 


38. popov maxim n., Spitaler Jürgen, mühlbacher marlene, Walter claudia, Keckes Jozef, 

mitterer christian, draxl claudia 

TiO2 (100)/Al2O3(0001) interface: A first-principles study supported by 

experiment . physical Review B 86, (2012) 205309-1-13. 

39. Rathmayr georg B., pippan Reinhard 

Extrinsic and intrinsic fracture behavior of high pressure torsion deformed 

nickel . 


40. Rehrl christian, Völker Bernhard, Kleber Siegfried, Antretter thomas, pippan 

Reinhard 

Crystal orientation changes: A comparison between a crystal plasticity finite 

element study and experimental results . 


41. Renk oliver, Hohenwarter Anton, pippan Reinhard 

Cyclic Deformation Behavior of a 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel Processed by 

High Pressure Torsion . 




42. Riedl Angelika, daniel R., Stefenelli mario, Schöberl thomas, Kolednik otmar, 

mitterer christian, Keckes Jozef 

A novel approach for determining fracture toughness of hard coatings on the 

micrometer scale . 


43. Schalk n., mitterer christian, Keckes Jozef, penoy m., michotte c. 

Influence of residual stresses and grain size on the spinodal decomposition of 

metastable Ti1−xAlxN coatings . 


44. Smolka martin, motz christian, detzel thomas, Robl W., griesser t., Wimmer 

Alexander, dehm gerhard 

Novel temperature dependent tensile test of freestanding copper thin film 

structures . 

Review of Scientific instruments 83, (2012) 1-10. 

45. Sonnweber-Ribic petra, gruber patric A., dehm gerhard, Strunk Horst p., Arzt 

eduard 

Kinetics and driving forces of abnormal grain growth in thin Cu films . 


46. Steyskal eva-maria, oberdorfer Bernd, Sprengel Wolfgang, Zehetbauer michael, 

pippan Reinhard, Würschum Roland 

Direct Experimental Determination of Grain Boundary Excess Volume in Metals . 

physical Review Letters 108, (2012) 055504-1-055504-5. 

47. taylor Aidan A., cordill megan Jo, dehm gerhard 

On the limits of the interfacial yield model for fragmentation testing of brittle 

films on polymer substrates . 


48. Vafaeia R., toroghinejad m.R., pippan Reinhard 

Evaluation of mechanical behavior of nano-grained 2024 Al alloy during high 

pressure torsion (HPT) process at various temperatures . 


49. Vichytil c., mori gregor, pippan Reinhard, panzenböck m., fluch R. 

Crack growth rates and corrosion fatigue of austenitic stainless steels in high 

chloride solutions . 

Key engineering materials 488-489, (2012) 97-100. 

50. Würschum Roland, oberdorfer Bernd, Steyskal eva-maria, Sprengel Wolfgang, puff 

Werner, pikart philip, Hugenschmidt christoph, pippan Reinhard 

Free volumes in bulk nanocrystalline metals studied by the complementary 

techniques of positron annihilation and dilatometry . 

physica B 407, (2012) 2670-2675. 

51. Wurster Stefan, motz christian, pippan Reinhard 

Characterization of the fracture toughness of micro-sized tungsten single 

crystal notched specimens . 




52. Yang Bo, motz christian, Rester martin, dehm gerhard 

Yield stress influenced by the ratio of wire diameter to grain size – a 

competition between the effects of specimen microstructure and dimension in 

micro-sized polycrystalline copper wires . 


53. Zhang H.W., Huang X.X., pippan Reinhard, Hansen n. 

Thermal behavior of Nickel deformed to ultra-high strain by high pressure 

torsion . 

materials Sciene forum 715-716, (2012) 387-392. 

54. Zrnik Jozef, Kraus Libor, Scheriau Stephan, pippan Reinhard 

Ultrafine grain structure evolution in AA6085 aluminium alloy processed by HPT 

at increased temperature . 

materials Science forum 706-709, (2012) 1864-1869. 

Conference papers and other publications 2012 

1. Kozhushko Victor V., Krenn Heinz, pippan Reinhard 

Detection of broadband laser induced longitudinal ultrasonic pulses in ultrafine 

grain nickel by pancake coil . 

in: Aip conference proceedings, 1433 (eds) (international congress on Ultrasonics); 

gdańsk, poLAnd (05.-08.09.2011) 733-736. 

2. Kunter Karl-Heinz, Heubrandtner t., pippan Reinhard 

Simulation of crack propagation using hybrid Trefftz method based on a stripyield 

crack-tip plasticity model for automotive crash applications . 

in: (eSiS), european Structural integrity Scociety (eds) (19th european conference 

on fracture) in: fracture mechanics for durability, Reliability and Safety; Kazan, 

RUSSiAn fedeRAtion (26.-31.08.2012) 1-8. 

3. maierhofer Jürgen, pippan Reinhard, gänser H-p. 

Improvement of fatigue performance by residual stresses: a fracture mechanics 

approach . 




4. pippan Reinhard, Bachmaier Andrea, Hohenwarter Anton, Renk oliver 

Nanocomposites and supersaturated solid solutions generated by SPD: the 

effect of initial strucutre and strain path . 

in: faester W., Hansen n., Huang X., Juul Jensen d., Ralph B. (eds), nanometals 

- Status and perspective (33rd Risø international Symposium on materials Science 

2012); Roskilde, denmARK (03.-07.09.2012) 107-113. 

5. Reiser Johannes, motz christian, pippan Reinhard, guster ch. 

A new SEM in-situ fatigue testing apparatus and its application for evaluation 

damage at higher load cycles . 






6. Vichytil c., mori gregor, pippan Reinhard, panzenböck m., fluch R. 

Fatigue and cracking behaviour of austenitic CrNiMo and CrMnN steelsin 

chloride containing environment at elevated temperature . 




7. Vojtek tomas, pokluda Jaroslav, Sandera p., Hornikova J., Slamecka Karel, 

Hohenwarter Anton, pippan Reinhard 

Near threshold Fatigue Crack Propagation under Mixed-mode II+III in ARMCO 

Iron . 




8. Zhang H.W., Lu K., pippan Reinhard, Huang X., Hansen n. 

Strong and stable nanostructured Ni by light alloying . 

in: faester W., Hansen n., Huang X., Juul Jensen d., Ralph B. (eds), nanometals 

- Status and perspective (33rd Risø international Symposium on materials Science 

2012); Roskilde, denmARK (03.-07.09.2012) 399-406. 

Publications in Scientific Journals 2011 

1. Bachmaier Andrea, pippan Reinhard 

Effect of oxide particles on the stabilization and final microstructure in 

aluminium . 



Microstructure and Properties of a Fe-Cu Composite Processed by HPT Powder 

Consolidation . 


3. Bartosik matthias, pitonak R., Keckes Jozef 

In Situ High Temperature X-Ray Diffraction Reveals Residual Stress Depth- 

Profiles in Blasted TiN Hard Coatings . 


4. Beinik i., Kratzer m., Wachauer A., Wang L., Lechner R.t., teichert christian, motz 

christian, Anwand W., Brauer g., chen X.Y., Hsu X.Y., diurisic A.B. 

Electrical properties of ZnO nanorods studied by conductive atomic force 

mircoscopy . 


5. cha Limei, clemens Helmut, dehm gerhard, Zhang Zaoli 

In-situ TEM heating study of the γ lamellae formation inside the α 2 matrix of a 

Ti-45Al-7 .5Nb alloy . 

Advanced materials Research 146-147, (2011) 1365-1368. 



6. cha Limei, clemens Helmut, dehm gerhard 

Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of an intermetallic Ti- 

43 .5Al-4Nb-1Mo-0 .1B alloy after ageing below the eutectoid temperature . 

international Journal of materials Research (formerly Z. metallkd.) 102, (2011) 703-708. 

7. cordill megan Jo, moody n.R., Jungk J.m., Kennedy m.S., mook W.m., prasad S.V., 

Bahr d.f., gerberich W.W. 

Probing the Strain Hardening Response of Small Wear Volumes with 

Nanoindentation . 

metallurgical and materials transactions A 42, (2011) 2226-2232. 

8. cordill megan Jo, Schmidegg Klaus, dehm gerhard 

Interface failure and adhesion measured by focused ion beam cutting of metal– 

polymer interfaces . 

philosophical magazine Letters 8, (2011) 530-536. 

9. cordill megan Jo, taylor Aidan, Schalko Johannes, dehm gerhard 

Microstructure and adhesion of as-deposited and annealed Cu/Ti films on 

polyimide . 

international Journal of materials Research (formerly Z. metallkd.) 102, (2011) 729- 

734. 

10. cordill megan Jo, taylor Aidan, Schmidegg Klaus 

Thickness Effects on the Fracture of Chromium Films on Polyethylene 

Terephthalate . 

Berg- und Hüttenmännische monatshefte (BHm) 11, (2011) 434-437. 

11. daniel R., Holec d., Bartosik matthias, Keckes Jozef, mitterer christian 

Size effect of thermal expansion and thermal/intrinsic stresses in 

nanostructured thin films: Experiment and model . 


12. edalati Kaveh, miresmaeili Reza, Horita Zenji, Kanayama Hiroshi, pippan Reinhard 

Significance of temperature increase in processing by high-pressure torsion . 


13. edlmayr V., Harzer tristan p., Hoffmann R., Kiener daniel, Scheu christina, mitterer 

christian 

Effects of thermal annealing on the microstructure of sputtered Al 2O 3 coatings . 

Journal of Vacuum Science technology A 29, (2011) 041506-1-8. 

14. gludovatz Bernd, Wurster Stefan, Weingärtner t., Hoffmann Andreas, pippan 

Reinhard 

Influence of impurities on the fracture behavior of tungsten . 


15. Heinz Walther, dehm gerhard 

Grain resolved orientation changes and texture evolution in a thermally strained 

Al film on Si substrate . 





An Overview on the Fracture Behavior of Metals Processed by High Pressure 

Torsion . 



Fracture toughness evaluation of ultrafine-grained nickel . 


18. Hohenwarter Anton, taylor Aidan, Stock Richard, pippan Reinhard 

Effect of Large Shear Deformations on the Fracture Behavior of a Fully Pearlitic 

Steel . 

metallurgical and materials transactions 42A, (2011) 1609-1618. 

19. Holec d., Rachbauer R., Kiener daniel, cherns p.d., costa p.m.f.J., mcAleese c., 

mayrhofer p.H., Humphreys c.J. 

Towards predictive modeling of near-edge structures in electron energy-loss 

spectra of AIN-based ternary alloys . 

physical Review B 83, (2011) 165122(1-10). 

20. Hostert c., music d., Bednarcik J., Keckes Jozef, Kapaklis V., Hjörvarsson B., 

Schneider J.m. 

Ab initio molecular dynamics model for density, elastic properties and short 

range order of Co–Fe–Ta–B metallic glass thin films . 

Journal of physics: condensed matter 23, (2011) 475401-475408. 

21. Hou Junbo, Zhang Zaoli, preis Wolfgang, Sitte Werner, dehm gerhard 

Electrical properties and structure of grain boundaries in n-conducting BaTiO 3 

ceramics . 

Journal of the european ceramic Society 31, (2011) 763-771. 

22. Jin. H., Lu W.-Y., cordill megan Jo, Schmidegg Klaus 

In situ Study of Cracking and Buckling of ChromiumFilms on PET Substrates . 

experimental mechanics 51, (2011) 219-227. 

23. Kapp marianne, Hebesberger thomas, Kolednik otmar 

A micro-level strain analysis of a high-strength dual-phase steel . 

international Journal of materials Research (formerly Z. metallkd.) 102, (2011) 687- 

691. 

24. Khorashadizadeh Anahita, Raabe dierk, Winning myrjam, pippan Reinhard 

Recrystallization and Grain Growth in Ultrafine-Grained Materials Produced by 

High Pressure Torsion . 


25. Kiener daniel, guruprasad p.J., Keralavarma S.m., dehm gerhard, Benzerga A.A. 

Work hardening in micropillar compression: In situ experiments and modeling . 




26. Kiener daniel, minor Andrew m. 

Source controlled yield and hardening of Cu(100) studied by in situ TEM . 


27. Kiener daniel, minor Andrew m. 

Source Truncation and Exhaustion: Insights from Quantitative in situ TEM 

Tensile Testing . 

nano Letters 11, (2011) 3816-3820. 

28. Kiener daniel, Hosemann peter, maloy S.A., minor Andrew m. 

In situ nanocompression testing of irradiated copper . 

nature materials 10, (2011) 608-613. 

29. Kirchlechner christoph, Keckes Jozef, motz christian, grosinger Wolfgang, Kapp 

m.W., micha J.-S., Ulrich o., dehm gerhard 

Impact of instrumental constraints and imperfections on the dislocation 

structure in micron-sized Cu compression pillars . 


30. Kirchlechner christoph, Keckes Jozef, micha Jean-Sebastien, dehm gerhard 

In Situ μLaue: Instrumental Setup for the Deformation of Micron Sized Samples . 


31. Kirchlechner christoph, Kiener daniel, motz christian, Labat S., Vaxelaire n., perroud 

o., micha J.-S., Ulrich o., thomas o., dehm gerhard, Keckes Jozef 

Dislocation storage in single slip-oriented Cu micro-tensile samples: New 

insights via X-ray microdiffraction . 


32. Klünsner thomas, Wurster Stefan, Supancic p., ebner Reinhold, Jenko m., glätzle 

Johannes, püschel Arndt, pippan Reinhard 

Effect of specimen size on the tensile strength of WC-Co hard metal . 


33. Kolednik otmar, predan Jozef, fischer franz dieter, fratzl peter 

Bioinspired Design Criteria for Damage-Resistant Materials with Periodically 

Varying Microstructure . 

Advanced functional materials 21, (2011) 3634-3641. 

34. Kozhushko Victor V., paltauf günther, Krenn Heinz, pippan Reinhard 

Ultrasonic Evaluation of Severely Plastically Deformed Metals . 

Key engineering materials 465, (2011) 374-377. 

35. Kozhushko Victor V., paltauf günther, Krenn Heinz, Scheriau Stephan, pippan 

Reinhard 

Attenuation of ultrasound in severely plastically deformed nickel . 

ndt&e international 44, (2011) 261-266. 



36. oberdorfer Bernd, Steyskal eva-maria, Sprengel Wolfgang, pippan Reinhard, 

Zehetbauer michael, puff Werner, Würschum Roland 

Recrystallization kinetics of ultrafine-grained Ni studied by dilatometry . 

Journal of Alloys and compounds 509S, (2011) 309-311. 

37. oh Sang Ho, Rentenberger christian, im Jiseong, motz christian, Kiener daniel, 

Karnthaler Hans-peter, dehm gerhard 

Dislocation plasticity of Al film on polyimide investigated by cross-sectional in 

situ transmission electron microscopy straining . 


38. pippan Reinhard, Zelger christian, gach ernst, Bichler c., Weinhandl Herbert 

On the mechanism of fatigue crack propagation in ductile metallic materials . 

fatigue & fracture of engineering materials & Structures 34, (2011) 1-16. 

39. Qiu A., Bahr d.f., Zbib A.A., Bellou A., mesarovic S. dj., mcclain d., Hudson W., Jiao 

J., Kiener daniel, cordill megan Jo 

Local and nonlocal behavior and coordinated buckling of CNT turfs . 

carbon 49, (2011) 1430-1438. 

40. Qiu A., fowler S.p., Jiao J., Kiener daniel, Bahr d.f. 

Time-dependent contact behavior between diamond and a CNT turf . 

nanotechnology 22, (2011) 295702 (7pp). 

41. Rachbauer R., massl Stefan, Stergar e., Holec d., Kiener daniel, Keckes Jozef, 

patscheider J., Stiefel m., Leitner H., mayrhofer p.H. 

Decomposition pathways in age hardening of Ti-Al-N films . 

Journal of Applied physics (110), (2011) 023515-1-023515-10. 

42. Rathmayr georg, pippan Reinhard 

Effect of Impurities on the Microstructure of HPT Deformed Nickel . 


43. Rathmayr georg, pippan Reinhard 

Influence of impurities and deformation temperature on the saturation 

microstructure and ductility of HPTdeformed nickel . 


44. Rehrl christian, Kleber Siegfried, Antretter thomas, pippan Reinhard 

A methodology to study crystal plasticity inside a compression test sample 

based on image correlation and EBSD . 

materials characterization 62, (2011) 793-800. 

45. Rehrl christian, Kleber Siegfried, Renk oliver, pippan Reinhard 

Effect of forming conditions on the softening behavior in coarse grained 

structures . 




46. Rester martin, fischer franz dieter, Kirchlechner christoph, Schmoelzer thomas, 

clemens Helmut, dehm gerhard 

Deformation mechanisms in micron-sized PST TiAl compression samples: 

Experiment and model . 


47. Rieth m., Boutard J.L., dudarev S.L., Ahlgren t., Antusch S., Baluc n., Barthe m.-f., 

Becquart c.S., ciupinski L., correiam J.B., domain c., fikar J., fortuna e., fu c.-c., 

gaganidze e., galán t.L., garcía-Rosales c., gludovatz Bernd, greuner H., Heinola 

K., Holstein n., Juslin n., Koch f., Krauss W., Kurzydlowski K.J., Linke J., Linsmeier 

ch., Luzginova n., maier H., martínez m.S., missiaen J.m., muhammed m., muñoz 

A., muzyk m., nordlund K., nguyen-manh d., norajitra p., opschoor J., pintsuk g., 

pippan Reinhard, Ritz g., Romaner Lorenz, Rupp d., Schäublin R., Schlosser J., 

Uytdenhouwen i., van der Laan J.g., Veleva L., Ventelon L., Wahlberg S., Willaime f., 

Wurster Stefan, Yar m.A. 

Review on the EFDA programme on tungsten materials technology and science . 


48. Scheriau Stephan, Zhang Zaoli, Kleber Siegfried, pippan Reinhard 

Deformation mechanisms of a modified 316L austenitic steel subjected to high 

pressure torsion . 


49. Senger Jochen, Weygand daniel, motz christian, gumsch peter, Kraft oliver 

Aspect ratio and stochastic effects in the plasticity of uniformly loaded 

micrometer-sized specimens . 


50. Stock Richard, pippan Reinhard 

RCF and wear in theory and practice - The influence of rail grade on wear and 

RCF . 

Wear 271, (2011) 125-133. 

51. taylor Aidan, cordill megan Jo, moser gabriele, dehm gerhard 

A Mechanical Method for Preparing TEM Samples from Brittle Films on 

Compliant Substrates . 

praktische metallographie 48, (2011) 408-413. 

52. taylor Aidan, edlmayr V., cordill megan Jo, dehm gerhard 

The effect of film thickness variations in periodic cracking: Analysis and 

experiments . 


53. taylor Aidan, edlmayr V., cordill megan Jo, dehm gerhard 

The effect of temperature and strain rate on the periodic cracking of amorphous 

AlxOy films on Cu . 




54. Veigel Stefan, müller Ulrich, Keckes Jozef, obersriebnig michael, gindl-Altmutter 

Wolfgang 

Cellulose nanofibrils as filler for adhesives: effect on specific fracture energy of 

solid wood-adhesive bonds . 

cellulose 18, (2011) 1227-1237. 

55. Wurster Stefan, gludovatz Bernd, Hoffmann Andreas, pippan Reinhard 

Fracture behaviour of tungsten-vanadium and tungsten-tantalum alloys and 

composites . 


56. Zhang H.W., Huang X., Hansen n., pippan Reinhard 

Microstructure of pure Ni Subjected to High Pressure Torsion . 


57. Zhang Zaoli, daniel Rostislav, mitterer christian 

Atomic and electronic structures of a transition layer at the CrN/Cr interface . 


58. Zhang Zaoli, Sigle Wilfried, Koch christoph t., Rühle manfred 

Dynamic behavior of nanometer-scale amporphous intergranular film in silicon 

nitride by in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy . 

Journal of the european ceramic Society 31, (2011) 1835-1840. 

59. Zrnik Jozef, pippan Reinhard, Scheriau Stephan, fujda martin 

Ultrafine Structure Formation in Aluminium Alloy Processed by HPT and the 

Mechanical Properties Response . 


Conference papers and other publications 2011 

1. pippan Reinhard, grosinger Wolfgang 

Fatigue Crack Closure from LCF to small skill yielding . 

in: James m.n., Yates J.R., Susmel L., Lacoviello f. (eds.) (first iJfatigue & ffemS 

joint Workshop) in: characterisation of crack tip Stress fields, eds v. frattura, 

gruppo italiano; forni die Sopra, itALY, (07.-09.03.2011) 208-215. 

2. clemens Helmut, Schmoelzer thomas, Schloffer m., Schwaighofer e., mayer Svea, 

dehm gerhard 

Physical metallurgy and properties of ß-solidifying TiAl based alloys . 

in: proceedings 1295 of the materials Research Society Symposium (mRS fall); 

Boston, mA, USA, (28.11.-02.12.2011) 95-100. 

3. Zhang Zaoli, daniel R., mitterer christian 

Comparative studies of the CrN/Cr/Si and CrN/Si interfaces by C s-corrected 

HRTEM and STEM-EELS . 

in: 10 th multinational congress on microscopy (mcm2011); Ubrino, itALY, (04.- 

09.09.2011) 29-30. 



4. motz christian, Kiener daniel, Kirchlechner christoph, grosinger Wolfgang, pippan 

Reinhard, dehm gerhard 

Advances in in-situ testing in scanning electron microscopes: probing 

mechanical properties at the nano/micro-scale . 


09.09.2011) 57-58. 

5. Kiener daniel, Kirchlechner christoph, Zhang Zaoli, Ulrich o., micha J.S., dehm 

gerhard 

Plasticity of FIB fabricated micro-samples investigated by in-situ micro-Laue 

diffraction and in-situ TEM . 


09.09.2011) 129-130. 

6. dehm gerhard, Kiener daniel 

Obtaining a quantitative micro- and nano-mechanical understanding of metals 

using in situ electron microscopy . 


09.09.2011) 599-600. 

7. Rashkova Boriana, faller michael, pippan Reinhard, dehm gerhard 

Growth kinetic of Al 2Cu precipitates during in-situ TEM heating in severe 

plastically deformed Al-3wt%Cu alloy . 


09.09.2011) 623-624. 


2012 


Invited Oral Presentations 

1. cordill, megan Jo 

Temperature Effects on the Mechanical and Interfacial Behavior of Copper 

Films on Polyimide . 

Seminar presentation (etH), Zürich/SWitZeRLAnd, 20.04.2012 

2. cordill megan Jo, taylor Aidan A., marx Vera, glushko oleksandr 

Mechanical and interfacial behavior of copper and titanium films on polyimide 

at elevated temperatures . 

colloquium (mpie), düsseldorf/geRmAnY, 20.11.2012 

3. cordill megan Jo, marx Vera 

Mechanical and interfacial behavior of copper and titanium films on polyimide 

at elevated temperatures . 

think tAnK Seminar (department chemical & materials engineering), moscow, 

idaho/United StAteS, 03.12.2012 

4. dehm gerhard 

Kupfer ist nicht gleich Kupfer! Neue Einblicke in das mikro-mechanische 

Verhalten von Metallen . 

Klassensitzung der math.-nat. Klasse der ÖAW (Verwaltungsstelle der math.-nat. 

Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Wien/AUStRiA, 

19.01.2012 

5. dehm gerhard, imrich peter Julian, Kirchlechner christoph, Yang Bo 

Micro-mechanical testing of Cu: About single crystals, grain boundaries and 

polycrystals . 

141st tmS Annual meeting and exhibition (tmS Society), orlando, florida/United 

StAteS, 12.03.2012 


Kupfer ist nicht gleich Kupfer! Neue Einblicke in das mechanische Verhalten bei 

kleinen Dimensionen . 

innovationskolloquium infineon (infineon), Regensburg/geRmAnY, 07.05.2012 

7. dehm gerhard, Hou Junbo, Zhang Zaoli 

Atomic resolution study of grain boundaries and interfaces using spherical 

aberration corrected TEM . 

e-mRS Spring 2012 Symposium c “Solid State ionics: mass and charge transport 

across and along interfaces of functional materials” (european materials Research 

Society), Strasbourg/fRAnce, 16.05.2012 


Interface controlled plasticity studied by micro/nanomechanical testing . 

3rd Quantitative micro-nano meeting (Qmn-3) (Los Alamos national Laboratory), 

idaho falls, idaho/United StAteS, 12.06.2012 




Orientation and Temperature Effects on Grain Boundary Strength: New Insights 

by Micro-Mechanical Testing . 

nano measure 2012 (Standford University), Standford, palo Alto/United StAteS, 

19.06.2012 

10. dehm gerhard, Bo Yang, christian motz 

Influence of Grain Size to Surface Ratio on the Yield Stress of Micron-Sized 

Polycrystalline Copper Wires . 

8th european Solid mechanics conference 2012 (University of technology), graz/ 

AUStRiA, 10.07.2012 

11. dehm gerhard, imrich peter Julian, Kirchlechner christoph, Smolka martin, Bo Yang, 

christian motz 

In situ micro- and nanomechanical electron microscopy studies of grain 

boundaries in Cu . 

mRS fall meeting 2012 (materials Research Society), Boston, mA/United StAteS, 

27.11.2012 


Influence of Strain Path on the Fracture Behavior of Severely Plastically 

Deformed Iron . 

141st tmS Annual meeting and exhibition (tmS Society), orlando, florida/United 

StAteS, 13.03.2012 

13. Hohenwarter Anton, grosinger Wolfgang, motz christian, pippan Reinhard 

Fatigue crack propagation: the involved length scales . 

iX international conference on fatigue damage of Structural materials (Sylvie 

pommier, france), Hyannis, massachusetts/United StAteS, 18.09.2012 

14. Keckes Jozef 

Residual Stresses in Hard Coatings Characterized by Scanning X-ray Nano 

Beam Diffraction and Synchrotron High-Temperature X-ray Diffraction . 

9th international conference on Residual Stresses (icRS9) (Arbeitsgemeinschaft 

Wärmebehandlung und Werkstofftechnik (AWt)), garmisch-partenkirchen/ 

geRmAnY, 07.10.2012 


Gradients of Microstructure and Strain in Nanostructured Materials Revealed by 

X-ray Nanobeams . 

expert panel to identify industry’s needs for advanced characterisation of soft 

materials, eSRf, grenoble/fRAnce, 04.12.2012 

16. Kiener daniel, guruprasad p.J., Keralavarma S.m., dehm gerhard, Benzerga A.A. 

Work hardening in micron and submicron scales . 

international Symposium on plasticity 2012 (Akhtar S. Khan, ph.d., p.e., professor 

of mechanical engineering and editor-in-chief, the international Journal of plasticity 

the University of maryland Baltimore county, engineering 210, Baltimore, md 21250, 

US), San Juan/pUeRto Rico, 04.01.2012 



17. Kiener daniel, Schneider A.S., tamura n., Kunz m., minor A.m., Kirchlechner 

christoph, Hui R.p., gruber p.A. 

Micromechanical behavior of metals studied by in-situ TEM and μLaue . 

141st tmS Annual meeting and exhibition (tmS Society), orlando, flordia/United 

StAteS, 14.03.2012 

18. Kiener daniel 

Pushing and pulling in the TEM: What can be learned from quantitative 

nanosclae in-situ experiments . 

nanobrücken Workshop ii (Leibniz institute for new materials Hysitron inc.), 

Saarbrücken/geRmAnY, 23.03.2012 


Understanding mechanical properties from higly localized nanoscale in-situ 

TEM experiments . 

colloquium 2012 (Ruhr Universität Bochum), Bochum/geRmAnY, 02.07.2012 

20. Kiener daniel, cordill megan Jo 

Revealing Nanoindentation Deformation Mechansims by Advanced 

Characterization and In-situ Methods . 

8th european Solid mechanics conference 2012 (University of technology), graz/ 

AUStRiA, 10.07.2012 


Advances in understanding small-scale plasticity through in-situ TEM . 

62. Jahrestagung der Österreichischen physikalischen gesellschaft (Österreichische 

physikalische gesellschaft, prof. michael Ramsey), graz/AUStRiA, 19.09.2012 


How crystal defects alter nanoscale plasticity: An in-situ TEM study . 

Seminar (department for chemical engineering University of minnesota), 

minneapolis, mn/United StAteS, 20.11.2012 

23. Kiener daniel, Hosemann peter, maloy S.A., minor A.m. 

In situ nanocompression testing of irradiated copper . 

mRS fall meeting 2012 (materials Research Society), Boston, mA/United StAteS, 

28.11.2012 

24. Kirchlechner christoph, dehm gerhard 

The plastic behavior of micron sized single and bi-crystalline samples analyzed 

by X-Ray μLaue diffraction . 

colloquium cnRS - Université paul. cézanne (cnRS - Université paul. cézanne), 

marseille/fRAnce, 19.07.2012 

25. Kirchlechner christoph, dehm gerhard 

The plastic behavior of micron sized single and bi-crystalline samples analyzed 

by X-Ray μLaue diffraction. 

colloquium University of Knoxville (oak Ridge national Lab), oak Ridge, tennessee/ 

United StAteS, 26.03.2012 



26. Kirchlechner christoph, Kapp marlene W., grosinger Wolfgang, imrich peter Julian, 

motz christian, Keckes Jozef, micha Jean-Sebastien, Ulrich olivier, dehm gerhard 

The plastic behavior of micron sized single crystals under compression and 

tension analyzed by X-Ray μLaue diffraction . 

141st tmS Annual meeting and exhibition (tmS Society), orlando, florida /United 

StAteS, 15.03.2012 

27. Kolednik otmar, predan Jozef, Zechner Johannes, Schöngrundner Ronald, fratzl 

peter, fischer franz dieter 

Assessment of cracks in inhomogeneous technical and biological materials . 

iUtAm Symposium fracture phenomena in nature and technology 2012 (University 

of Brescia), Brescia/itALY, 02.07.2012 


New ideas for the development of damage resistant materials and structures . 

ecf 19 (eSiS european Structural integrity Society), Kazan/RUSSiAn 

fedeRAtion, 28.08.2012 

29. motz christian, Weygand daniel, gumbsch peter 

The influence of initial defect structure and boundary conditions on the size 

effect in small scale plasticity . 

international Symposium on plasticity 2012 (Akhtar S. Khan, ph.d., p.e., professor 

of mechanical engineering and editor-in-chief, the international Journal of plasticity 

the University of maryland Baltimore county, engineering 210, Baltimore, md 21250, 

US), San Juan/pUeRto Rico, 06.01.2012 

30. motz christian 

In-situ Ermüdungsversuche an Mikrobiegebalken: Experiment und 

Versetzungsdynamiksimulation . 

Sommerschule Spp 1466 (Universität Siegen, fakultät iV, institut für 

Werkstofftechnik), dresden/geRmAnY, 28.06.2012 


Mechanische Eigenschaften in kleinen Dimensionen: Experiment und 

Simulation . 

dgm mitgliederversammlung - Verleihung masing-gedächtnis-preis (deutsche 

gesellschaft für materialkunde e.V. (dgm)), darmstadt/geRmAnY, 24.09.2012 

32. pippan Reinhard, Wurster Stefan, gludovatz Bernd, Li Hong, Romaner Lorenz 

Fracture toughness controlling phenomena in W and W allyos . 

challenges to developing W-Based materials for fusion Applications (california 

nanosystems institute (cnSi)), Santa Barbara/United StAteS, 14.02.2012 

33. pippan Reinhard 

Herstellung von Nano-Verbundwerkstoffen durch Hochverformung . 

39. Skiwoche und 33. Werkstoffseminar (institut für Angewandte materialien 

Werkstoffkunde), Adelboden/SWitZeRLAnd, 13.03.2012 




Plasticity on the micro scale: Structural refinement and the size effect of plasticity . 

Workshop mechanics of materials (mathematisches forschungsinstitut), oberwolfach/ 

geRmAnY, 20.03.2012 

35. pippan Reinhard, Bachmaier Andrea, Hohenwarter Anton, Rathmayr georg 

Generation of nanocomposites and super saturated solid solutions by SPD . 

dpg 2012 (deutsche physikalische gesellschaft), Berlin/geRmAnY, 26.03.2012 

36. pippan Reinhard, Bachmaier Andrea, Hohenwarter Anton, Renk oliver, Rathmayr 

georg, champion Y., Sauvage Xavier 

Nanocomposites and super saturated solid solutions generated by SPD . 

international Workshop on Bulk nanostructured metals (University of Kyoto), Kyoto/ 

JApAn, 28.06.2012 

37. pippan Reinhard, Wurster Stefan, grosinger Wolfgang, Rathmayr georg, Klünsner 

thomas, motz christian 

Fatigue and Fracture in Micro Dimensions . 

iUtAm 2012 Symposium fracture phenomena in nature and technology (University of 

Brescia), Brescia/itALY, 03.07.2012 

38. pippan Reinhard, Wurster Stefan, grosinger Wolfgang, Rathmayr georg, Klünsner 

thomas, motz christian 

Fatigue and fracture of micro samples . 

ecf 19 (eSiS european Structural integrity Society), Kazan/RUSSiAn 

fedeRAtion, 28.08.2012 

39. pippan Reinhard, Bachmaier Andrea, Hohenwarter Anton, Renk oliver 

Nanocomposites and super saturated solid solutions generated by SPD: the 

effect of initial structure and strain path . 

33rd Risø international Symposium on materials Science 2012 (department of Wind 

energy technical University of denmark), Roskilde/denmARK, 05.09.2012 

40. Zhang Zaoli, gerhard dehm 

Nanostructured boundary . 

9. Werkstoffkongress (Außeninstitut montanuniversität Leoben), Leoben/AUStRiA, 

28.03.2012 

2011 

1. Bachmaier Andrea, Hohenwarter Anton, Rathmayr georg, Kammerhofer christoph, 

pippan Reinhard 

Limitation in structural refinement by severe plastic deformation . 

international Symposium on plasticity 2011, puerto Vallarta/meXico, 04.01.2011 


Aluminium-alumina composites produced by SPD . 

Seminar on nanostructured Al composites and alloys (cRV-ALcAn engineered 

products), Voreppe/fRAnce, 02.02.2011 



3. cordill megan, taylor Aidan, dehm gerhard 

Fracture and Delamination of Thin Metallic Films on Substrates . 

materials Science and technology conference and exhibition (mS&t) (AcerS, AiSt, 

ASm and tmS), columbus, ohio/United StAteS, 17.10.2011 

4. dehm gerhard, Kirchlechner christoph, Keckes Jozef, motz christian, grosinger 

Wolfgang, imrich peter J., micha J.S., Ulrich o., thomas o., Labat S. 

In situ μLaue observations of dislocation plasticity during micro tensile testing 

of Copper single crystals . 

e-mRS 2011 (european materials Research Society), nice/fRAnce, 11.05.2011 


Quantitative mechanical and microstructural studies at the micro/nano-scale . 

gdR cnRS mecAno (gdR mecAno), poitiers/fRAnce, 08.04.2011 


New insights in plasticity of metals by highly localized in situ measurements . 

colloquium mpi düsseldorf (max planck institut für eisenforschung), düsseldorf/ 

geRmAnY, 01.04.2011 


New Insights in Small Scale Plasticity . 

colloquium University Aachen (University of Aachen), Aachen/geRmAnY, 

12.01.2011 


Towards a quantitative understanding of deformation behavior at the micro- and 

nano-scale . 

colloquium University of oxford (department of materials), oxford/United 

Kingdom, 19.05.2011 


Micro-mechanical testing of grain boundary effects in Cu . 

2nd international Workshop on the plasticity of nanocrystalline metals (deutsche 

forschungsgemeinschaft (dfg)), Lake Bostal/geRmAnY, 27.09.2011 


On mechanical size effects and stochastic behavior of miniaturized metals . 

colloquium mpi Stuttgart (max-planck-institute for metal Research), Stuttgart/ 

geRmAnY.; 31.01.2011 


Mikrostruktur und mechanische Eigenschaften dünner Cu Schichten und 

Drähte . 

10. tagung gefüge und Bruch 2011 (deutsche gesellschaft für materialkunde eV), 

Bochum/geRmAnY, 31.03.2011 




“Small is Strong” - towards a quantitative understanding of deformation 

behavior at the micro- and nano-scale . 

dgK2011 / deutsche gesellschaft für Kristallographie / 19th Annual meeting 

(deutsche mineralogische gesellschaft), Salzburg/AUStRiA, 21.09.2011 

13. fischer franz dieter, Simha n.K., predan J., Schöngrundner R., Kolednik otmar 


5th international Symposium on defect and material mechanics, iSdmm11, Seville/ 

SpAin, 29.06.2011 

14. fischer franz dieter, clemens Helmut, dehm gerhard, Kirchlechner christoph, 

Rester martin, Schmoelzer t. 

Deformation Mechanisms in PST-TiAl Micor-Pillars-Experiment and Modelling . 

euromat 2011 (the federation of european materials Society (femS)), montpellier/ 

fRAnce, 12.09.2011 


Structural properties of thin films and small structures characterized by 

synchrotron X-ray diffraction . 

colloquium department of Applied physics and Applied mathematics (columbia 

University), new York/United StAteS, 15.07.2011 


Position-Resolved X-ray Micro- and Nano-Beam Characterization of 

Microstructure and Residual Stresses . 

Size-Strain Vi “diffraction Analysis of the microstructure of materials” (institut 

matériaux microélectronique nanosciences de provence UmR6242 cnRS), 

presqu’île de giens, Hyères/fRAnce, 18.10.2011 


Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of Thin Films and Small Structures Characterized 

by Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction . 

colloquium deSY Berlin (deSY Berlin), Berlin/geRmAnY, 30.06.2011 

18. Kiener daniel, dehm gerhard 

Obtaining a quantitative micro- and nano-mechanical understanding of metals 

using in situ electron microscopy . 

mcm 2011 / 10th multinational congress on microscopy (Scientific campus Urbino 

University “carlo Bo”), Urbino/itALY, 06.09.2011 

19. Kiener daniel, Kirchlechner christoph, Zhang Zaoli, Sturm S., Ulrich o., micha J.S., 

dehm gerhard 

Plasticity of FIB fabricated microsamples investigated by in-situ micro-Laue 

diffraction and in-situ TEM . 






Mechanisms governing strength and hardening in small volumes . 

Structural materials Seminar, cambridge/United Kingdom, 13.05.2011 


Quantitative In Situ TEM to Investigate Defect - Strength Relations . 

tmS meeting (tmS Society), San diego, cA/United StAteS, 01.03.2011 


In situ micro/nano-mechanical testing activities in Leoben, Austria . 

tmS meeting (tmS Society), San diego, cA/United StAteS, 02.03.2011 

23. Kiener daniel, minor A.m. 

Defect controlled strength in small volumes studied by in situ TEM . 



Defect - Strength Relations in Small Volumes: Insights from Quantitative In-situ 

TEM . 

femmS 2011 (LLnL), Sonoma, california/United StAteS, 20.09.2011 

25. Kirchlechner christoph 

μLaue diffraction: A tool to probe imperfect crystals at the micron scale . 

7th european Winterschool on neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation (institut für 

physik, montanuniversität Leoben), donnersbach/AUStRiA, 08.03.2011 

26. Kolednik otmar, predan Jozef, fratzl peter, fischer franz dieter 

Design criteria for damage-resistant lamellar materials . 



Neue Ideen zum Design von bruchresistenten Materialien . 

gefüge und Bruch 2011 (deutsche gesellschaft für materialkunde eV), Bochum/ 

geRmAnY, 31.03.2011 


Cyclic Plasticity and Damage Evolution at the Micron Scale Studied by Micro- 

Bending Tests . 



Plasticity in confined volumes: new insights into small-scale plasticity . 

75th Annual meeting of the dpg and combined dpg Spring meeting (deutsche 

physikalische gesellschaft e.V. (dpg)), dresden/geRmAnY, 15.03.2011 



30. motz christian, Kiener daniel, Kirchlechner christoph, grosinger Wolfgang, pippan 

Reinhard, dehm gerhard 

Advances in in-situ testing in scanning electron microscopes: probing 

mechanical properties at the nano/micro-scale . 




Initial dislocation structures and boundary conditions in 3D discrete dislocation 

dynamics simulations and their influence on micro scale plasticity . 

eci conference on nanomechanical testing in materials Research and development 

(engineering conferences international), costa teguise, Lanzarote/SpAin, 

12.10.2011 


New insights into small-scale plasticity and size-effects by 3-D discrete 

dislocation dynamics simulations . 


fRAnce, 13.09.2011 


Exploring size effects in small-scale plasticity: from micro/nano indentation to 

in-situ micro tensile testing . 

international indentation Workshop 4 (iiW4) (Seoul national University), Seoul/ 

KoReA, RepUBLic of, 05.07.2011 


Mechanics of “complex” materials . 

mAcAn Summer School 2011, Leoben/AUStRiA, 12.07.2011 


Monotonic and cyclic loading of micro bending beams: experiments and 3-D 

DDD simulations . 

Vorstellungsvortrag Berufungsverfahren für Lehrstuhl “Werkstoffwissenschaften und 

methodik”, Saarbrücken/geRmAnY, 07.12.2011 

36. pippan Reinhard, grosinger Wolfgang, motz christian 

Fatigue crack propagation: the involved lengths scales . 

iceAf ii / 2nd international conference of engineering against fracture (Hellenic 

metallurgy Society), mykonos/gReece, 23.06.2011 

37. pippan Reinhard, grosinger Wolfgang 

Fatigue Crack Closure from LCF to small scale yielding . 

characterization of crack tip stress fields (gruppo italiano frattura), forni die Sopra/ 

itALY, 08.03.2011 




Plasticity on the microscale: Structural refinement and the size effect of 

plasticity . 

colloquium Ruhr University Bochum, icAmS (Ruhr University), Bochum/geRmAnY, 

04.07.2011 


Fatigue crack propagation from nano to macro and from LCF to small scale 

yielding . 

colloquium materials modelling imWf (materials modelling imWf), Stuttgart/ 

geRmAnY, 07.07.2011 

40. pippan Reinhard, Hohenwarter Anton, Bachmaier Andrea, Rathmayr georg, 

Rashkova Boriana, faller michael 

Effect of precipitation and second phases on the limitation in the refinement by 

SPD . 

5th international conference on nanomaterials by Severe plastic deformation 

(nanoSpd5) (University of nanjing), nanjing/cHinA, 23.03.2011 

41. pippan Reinhard, Kozhushko V., paltauf g., Krenn H., Scheriau Stephan 

Evaluation of mechanical properties of metals by laser ultrasound . 


fRAnce, 12.09.2011 


Generation of nanocomposites by severe plastic deformation . 

dymat 2011 / 20th technical meeting (cnRS), paris/fRAnce, 08.09.2011 


Recent Progress in R&D on Tungsten Alloys for Divertor Structural and Plasma 

Facing Components . 

icfRm-15 / 15th international conference on fusion Reactor materials (oak Ridge 

national Laboratory), charleston, South carolina/United StAteS, 18.10.2011 


Nano/micro-mechanical testing possibilities with the Austrian Academy of 

Sciences in Leoben . 

Space technology days 2011 (estec european Space Research and technology 

centre), noordwijk/netHeRLAndS, 23.11.2011 


Generation of stable nanostructured materials by SPD . 

2nd international Workshop on the plasticity of nanocrystalline metals (deutsche 

forschungsgemeinschaft (dfg)), Lake Bostal/geRmAnY, 26.09.2011 

46. Wurster Stefan, matoy Kurt, grosinger Wolfgang, motz christian, pippan Reinhard 

Fracture Experiments on the Micrometer Scale . 

XX international materials Research congress (Sociedad mexicana de materiales), 

cancun/meXico, 18.08.2011 



47. Zhang Zaoli 

Advanced characterization of the interface structure by Cs-corrected HR-TEM . 

colloquium, institute for electron microscopy and fine Structure Research (feLmi) 

of graz University of technology and the graz centre for electron microscopy (Zfe 

graz), graz/AUStRiA, 14.10.2011 

48. Zhang Zaoli 

Atomic and electronic studies of defects in oxide and metal nitride by advanced 

transmission electron microscopy . 

colloquium (Université paul cézanne), marseilles/fRAnce, 29.03.2011 



Habilitation 2012 

Doctoral and Diploma Theses 

1. motz, christian 

Mechanische Eigenschaften in kleinen Dimensionen: Neue Einblicke in das 

größenabhängige Verformungsverhalten von Metallen, 15.05.2012 

PhD Theses 2012 

1. Rathmayr, georg 

Mechanical behaviour of ultrafine-grained nickel: The role of purity and strain 

path, 22.06.2012 

2. Bartosik, matthias 

Inhomogene strukturelle und mechanische Eigenschaften von nanokristallinen 

Dünnschichten charakterisiert mittels fortgeschrittenem Röntgenbeugungsverfahren, 

19.07.2012 

Diploma Theses 2012 

1. Kormout, Karoline 

Charakterisierung von CrN-Filmen auf MgO-Substraten mittels 

Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie, 26.06.2012 

2. Kapp, marlene 

Reversible Versetzungsbewegung in ein- und bikristallinen Kupfer- 

Mikrobiegebalken: Ein in situ µLaue Experiment, 15.10.2012 

3. Kremmer, thomas 

Ermüdungseigenschaften und Mikrostrukturevolution von mikro- und 

nanokristallinen Mikrobiegeproben, 15.10.2012 

4. Leitner, thomas 

Bruchmechanische Untersuchungen an vier TNM Gefügen, 15.10.2012 

5. treml, Ruth 

Lokale Verformungsanalyse an einkristallinen Cu- und Au-Mikrozugproben mit 

Hilfe von Bildkorrelationsverfahren und AFM-Messungen, 15.10.2012 

6. Kasberger, Roland 

Lokale Verformungsanalyse an einem TRIP-Stahl, 11.12.2012 



PhD Theses 2011 

1. Kirchlechner, christoph 

Plasticity at the Micron Scale: A μLaue Study, 07.06.2011 

2. Klünsner, thomas 

Influence of Microstructure on Material Behaviour of WC-Co Hard Metals under 

Static and Cyclic Loading Conditions, 29.06.2011 

3. Rehrl, christian 

The Microstructural Break Down: The Effect of Initial Grain Size, 09.08.2011 

4. Wurster, Stefan 

Fracture Behavior of Tungsten Based Materials, 09.08.2011 

5. Bachmaier, Andrea 

Herstellung von massiven Nanoverbundwerkstoffen mittels Hochverformung, 

11.10.2011 

6. Smolka, martin 

Temperaturabhängige mechanische Eigenschaften miniaturisierter 

Kupferstrukturen aus der Leistungshalbleiterelektronik, 27.10.2011 

7. taylor, Aidan 

Uniaxiale Zuversuche von spröden Schichten auf duktile Substraten, 24.11.2011 

8. Sonnleitner, markus 

Ursachen und Auswirkungen von Delaminationsrissen in thermomechanisch 

gewalzten Stählen, 25.11.2011 

9. feuchter, michael 

Mikrostrukturoptimierung und Struktur-Eigenschaftsbeziehungen von 

thermoplastischen Nanokompositen, 29.11.2011 

10. Kapp, marianne 

Verformung und Bruch von modernen, hochfesten Multiphasenstählen, 

14.12.2011 

11. Stock, Richard felix 

Der Einfluss von verschiedenen Schienengüten und unterschiedlichen 

Kontaktbedingungen auf Verschleiß und Rollkontaktermüdung von Schienen, 

16.12.2011 



Diploma Theses 2011 

1. grosinger, Wolfgang Josef 

Zyklische Plastizität an Microbiegeproben, 28.06.2011 

2. Völker, Bernhard 

Bruch- und Verformungsverhalten von ultrafeinkörnigem Titan, 28.06.2011 

3. Harzer, tristan 

Transmissionselektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen der CrN/MgO 

Grenzfläche, 30.06.2011 

4. gaitzenauer, Andrea 

Synchrotron X-Ray Nanobeam Experimente an CrN-Schichten zur Bestimmung 

von Mikrostrukturgradienten, 03.10.2011 

5. Renk, oliver 

Einfluss der Hochverformung auf das Ermüdungsverhalten eines 

austenitischen Stahls, 13.12.2011 


2012 


Conferences and Symposia (Co-)Organized 

by the Institute 

Session “Small volume plasticity and scaling up to macroscopic behavior” in honor 

of William W . Gerberich, at the International Symposium on Plasticity 2012, 02.- 

10.01.2012, San Juan 

cordill megan Jo 

Planneralm Seminar 2012, 29.02.2012 - 02.03.2012, planneralm 

dehm gerhard, Kirchlechner christoph, pippan Reinhard, Wurster Stefan 

8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, EMCS 2012, 09.07.2012 - 13.07.2012, graz 

dehm gerhard 

Inauguration Röntgenanlage, 14.09.2012, Leoben 

Keckes Jozef, dehm gerhard 

Rigaku Open Workshop “X-ray Solution”, 30.11.2012, Leoben 

Josef Keckes 

KAI/Infineon Idea Exchange Meeting, 13.12.2012, Leoben 

cordill megan, dehm gerhard 

Rigaku Open Workshop “X-rax Solution”, 30 .11 .2012, Leoben 

Pennartz Paul, Rigaku, geRmAnY 

Introduction to Rigaku / SAXS solutions 

Bauer Peter, RofA, Kritzendorf, AUStRiA 

Introduction to ROFA 

Saito Keisuke, Rigaku, geRmAnY 

XRD solutions 

Lechner Rainer, Universität Leoben, AUStRiA 

Recent X-ray studies 

2011 

Exploring Mechanical and Electrical Properties on the Nanometer Scale, 05.04.2011, 

Leoben 

Schöberl thomas 



MACAN Summer School 2011, 04.07.2011 - 15.07.2011, Leoben 

dehm gerhard, cordill megan, imrich peter Julian 

10 th Multinational Congress on Microscopy 2011, 04.-09.09.2011, Urbino, italy 

Zhang Zaoli (Symposium: High resolution TEM and STEM) 

EUROMAT 2011, 12.09.2011 - 15.09.2011, montpellier, france 

Kolednik otmar (Symposium: Macro/meso-mechanical characterization of materials 

and microstructural effects), motz christian (Symposium: Mechanical characterization 

of small-scale structures and advanced nanostructured materials), pippan Reinhard 

(Symposium: Ultrafine-grained Materials processed by Severe Plastic Deformation) 

Engineering Conferences International (ECI Conference 2011) “Nanomechanical 

Testing in Materials Research and Development”, 08.10.2011 - 15.10.2011, Lanzarote, 

Spain 

dehm gerhard, motz christian 

Festcolloquium 40 Jahre Erich-Schmid-Institut für Materialwissenschaft, 04.11.2011, 

Leoben 

dehm gerhard, pippan Reinhard 

26 th Association Day / EURATOM-ÖAW, 11.11.2011, Leoben 

dehm gerhard, pippan Reinhard, Wurster Stefan 

Participants of the workshop on Mechanical and Electrical Properties on the Nanometer 

Scale (left), and audience at the Festcolloquium at the 40 th anniversary of ESI (right). 

Exploring Mechanical and Electrical Properties on the Nanometer 

Scale, 05 .04 .2011, Leoben 

M . Hippler, Agilent technologies, Kronberg i. ts., geRmAnY 

Agilent in Nano 

G . Kada, Agilent technologies, Kronberg i. ts., geRmAnY 

Kelvin Force Microscopy and Scanning Microwave Microscopy on Semiconductors 

and Polymer Films 



N . Niermann, Agilent technologies, Kronberg i. ts., geRmAnY 

Sem column miniaturization in Agilent’s compact, Low-Voltage 8500 fe-Sem 

H . Pfaff, Agilent technologies, Kronberg i. ts., geRmAnY 

Improbable but Never Impossible: Programming Advanced Applications for 

Mechanical Testing on the Nano Indenter G200 

O . Warren, nanomechanics inc., oak Ridge, tennesse, United StAteS 

Principles and Basic Applications of Nanoindentation 

J .J . Yu, Agilent technologies, Kronberg i. ts., geRmAnY 

A New Approach To Probe the Magnetic Properties of Nanomaterials 

C . Teichert, institue of physics, University of Leoben, AUStRiA 

Friction Force Microscopy and Transverse Shear Microscopy 

M . Kratzer, institute of physics, University of Leoben, AUStRiA 

Photoconductive Atomic Force Microscopy 

MACAN Summer School 2011, 04 .07 .2011 - 15 .07 .2011, Leoben 

Impressions from the MACAN summerschool: lectures, laboratory exercises, and excursion 

to a mine (Erzberg). 

Carter Craig, mit, Boston, massachusetts, United StAteS 

Interface and Surface, Thermodynamics (Theory and Experiment) 

Chatain Dominique, cinam-cnRS, marseille, fRAnce 

Thermodynamics: Experiments (Wetting) 

Detzel Thomas, infineon/KAi, Villach, AUStRiA 

Power devices and interface issues 

Hashibon Adham, iWm fraunhofer, freiburg, geRmAnY 

Molecular Dynamics 

Johnson Erik, niels Bohr institute, University of copenhagen, denmARK 

TEM: diffractional contrast 



McComb David, imperial college, London, United Kingdom 

EELS / ELNES 

Motz Christian, erich Schmid institute, Leoben, AUStRiA 

Mechanics of Interfaces 

Ow-Yang Cleva, Sabanci University, istanbul, tURKeY 

HRTEM methods 

Podloucky Raimund, University Vienna, AUStRiA 

Basics and Atomistic Simulations 

Rabkin Eugen, technion, Haifa, iSRAeL 

Motion of Interfaces 

Schmidt-Mende Lukas, LmU, munich, geRmAnY 

Interface issues in photovoltaic devices 

Seifert Hans-Jürgen, tU Bergakademie, freiberg, geRmAnY 

Thermodynamics: Basics, Phase diagrams 

Festkolloquium 40 Jahre Erich-Schmid-Institut für 

Materialwissenschaft, 04.11.2011, Leoben 

Welcome and Greetings: 

G . Dehm, director eSi 

W . Eichlseder, Rector montanuniversität Leoben 

H . Mang, former president Austrian Academy of Sciences 

M . Rühle, Head of Scientific Advisory Board eSi 

S . Hanslik, ministry for Science and Research 

H . Tischhardt, city of Leoben 

K . Edlinger-Ploder, Landesrätin Steiermark 

Lectures: 

E . Werner, tU münchen 

Kontinuumsmechanische Beschreibung von Versetzungs-systemen 

T . Hebesberger, Voestalpine Linz 

Stahl: ein altes Eisen oder ein High-Tech Werkstoff? 



P . Uggowitzer, etH Zürich 

Hochfeste und zugleich hochduktile Magnesiumlegierungen 

26 th Association Day / EURATOM-ÖAW, 11 .11 .2011, Leoben 

H .W . Weber and G . Dehm 

Welcome and introduction 

R . Antidormi, european commission 

Latest developments in the European Fusion Programme 

G . Federici, efdA 

Power Plant Physics and Technology under EFDA 

R . Prokopec, Vienna University of technology 

Insulators for ITER magnets 

H . Leeb, Vienna University of technology 

Nuclear data 

M . Biberacher, Research Studios Salzburg 

EFDA-TIMES: developing a realistic energy scenario model Edge plasma theory, 

modelling and simulation 

D . Tskhakaya jun ., University of innsbruck 

ITM codes and high-performance computing 

F . Köchl, tU Wien 

ITER scenario modelling in cooperation with JET and F4E 

K . Schöpf, University of innsbruck 

Modelling and simulation of fast-particle phenomena 

W . Kernbichler . graz University of technology 

Resonant magnetic perturbations and stellarator modelling 

M . Probst, University of innsbruck 

Modelling of material mixing under ITER-relevant conditions 

R . Schrittwieser . University of innsbruck 

Experimental investigation of plasma turbulence and ELMS 

A . Kendl, University of innsbruck 

Gyrofluid modelling of plasma turbulence and ELMS 

F . Aumayr, Vienna University of technology 

Chemical erosion, seed impurities, transport studies and AMNS data 



P . Scheier, University of innsbruck 

Ion-surface collisions, spectrometry and AMNS data 

J . Emhofer, Vienna University of technology 

High-temperature superconductors for fusion applications 

R . Pippan and S . Wurster, ÖAW-eSi 

Tungsten as a structural material – experiments and modelling 


2012 


ESI Colloquium 

C .T . Koch, institut für experimentelle physik, Ulm, geRmAnY 

Locating atoms with picometer precision, 24.01.2012 

J .S . Micha, ceA, grenoble, fRAnce 

CRG-IF BM32 beamline at ESRF: Status and scattering experiments, 26.01.2012 

C . Krywka, christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, geRmAnY 

Nanofocus Endstation of MINAXS-Status, first results and prospects, 07.02.2012 

D . Dunstan, School of physics and Astronomy Queen mary University, London, United 

Kingdom 

Solvent and pressure effects on carbon nanotubes, 03.04.2012 

E . Mittemeijer, mpi for intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, geRmAnY 

Unusual Properties of Nanosized Materials, 03.05.2012 

A . Dlouhý, institute of physics of materials, Academy of Sciences, Brno, cZecH RepUBLic 

Impact of Hydrogen-Assisted Heat Treatments on Microstructure and Transformation 

Path in a Ni-rich NiTi Shape Memory Alloy, 23.11.2012 

U . Zerbst, federal institute for materials Research and testing (BAm), Berlin, geRmAnY 

Fracture mechanical methods for the estimation of dynamic strength, 27.11.2012 

S . Korte, institut für Allgemeine Werkstoffeigenschaften, fAU erlangen-nürnberg, erlangen, 

geRmAnY 

Plasticity in hard materials – Probing deformation mechanisms by micromechanical 

testing across sizes and temperatures, 04.12.2012 

2011 

D . Dunstan, centre for materials Research, Queen mary University of London, United 

Kingdom 

Size Effects at the Yield Point of Metals and Ceramics, 27.01.2011 

R . Barabash, metals & cerm. oak Ridge national Laboratory, oak Ridge / 3d 

measurements of geometrically, United StAteS 

Necessary Dislocations and Strain Gradients in the Near Surface Microstructures with 

Polychromatic Microdiffraction, 01.02.2011 

H .P . Degischer, institute of materials Science and technology, tU Vienna, AUStRiA 

3D architecture of structural materials, 03.02.2011 



M . Friak, max-planck institute for iron Research, geRmAnY 

Ab initio study of the Ti-Fe eutectic system, 15.02.2011 

J . Biskupek, central facility of electron microscopy University Ulm, geRmAnY 

Optimization of electron tomography - Towards larger 3D volumes & Atomic resolution, 

24.03.2011 

C . Mangler, materials center Leoben and University of Vienna, faculty of physics, physics of 

nanostructured materials, Vienna, AUStRiA 

Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Alloys processed by Severe Plastic Deformation, 

28.06.2011 

S .H . Oh, division of electron microscopic Research, Korea Basic Science institute (KBSi), 

daejeon, KoReA, democRAtic peopLe’S RepUBLic of 

In-situ high resolution electron microscopy: a tool to study diffusion and melting, 

28.07.2011 

M . Funk, Kit Karlsruhe institute of technology, institut für Angewandte materialien, 

Werkstoff- und Biomechanik, Karlsruhe, geRmAnY 

Fatigue of nanostructured metals, 11.08.2011 

Y .B . Park, School of materials Science and engineering, Andong national University, 

KoReA, democRAtic peopLe’S RepUBLic of 

Atomic migration reliabilities and interfacial adhesion issues of metal interconnects in 

advanced microelectronic systems, 17.08.2011 

V . Radmilovic, nanotechnology and functional materials center / faculty of technology and 

metallurgy, University of Belgrade, SeRBiA 

How to create monodisperse core/shell precipitates in Al alloys using solid state 

reaction? 12.12.2011 


2012 


Honours and Awards 

Dehm Gerhard 

“B&c privatstiftung Anerkennungspreis 2011”, granted: April 26, 2012, B&c privatstiftung, 

AUStRiA 

Kapp Marlene W . 

poster Award “planneralm Seminar 2012”, granted: march 1, 2012, erich Schmid institut für 

materialwissenschaft, AUStRiA 

Kirchlechner Christoph 

“promotion “sub auspiciis praesidentis””, granted: January 23, 2012, Bundespräsident dr. 

Heinz fischer, AUStRiA 

Kiener Daniel 

“fritz grasenick preis 2012”, granted: december 7, 2012, Österreichische gesellschaft für 

elektronenmikroskopie, AUStRiA 

Kiener Daniel 

“fritz-Kohlrausch-preis 2012”, granted: September 19, 2012, Österreichische physikalische 

gesellschaft, AUStRiA 

Kolednik Otmar 

“eSiS fellowship for his outstanding contributions to the experimental and non-linear fracture 

mechanics and his service to the Society”, granted: August 31, 2012, european Structural 

integrity Society eSiS, RUSSiAn fedeRAtion 

Motz Christian 

“masing-gedächtnispreis 2011”, granted: September 24, 2012, deutsche gesellschaft für 

materialkunde (dgm), geRmAnY 

2011 

Bartosik, Matthias 

Award / “Synchrotron-X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments on Suspension Bridge 

cables”, granted: march-July 2011, marshallplan-Jubiläumsstiftung, AUStRiA 

Dehm, Gerhard 

elected as corresponding member Austrian Academy of Sciences, April 2011, AUStRiA 

Imrich, Peter Julian 

poster Award 1st place “deformation behavior of mniaturized copper bicrystals and 

corresponding dislocation boundary interactions”, granted: october 8-15, 2011, eci 

nanomechanical testing in materials Research and development, SpAin 



Kammerhofer, Christoph 

Best oral report in the special session for young scientists Second prize “ductile to brittle 

transition of Ufg-iron”, granted: August 23-26, 2011, 2nd congress on nanotechnologies 

/ institute of physics of Advanced materials Ufa State Aviation technical University and 

nanomet Ltd., RUSSiAn fedeRAtion 

Kapp, Marlene 

Rigaku poster prize / “µLaue: compression studies on miniaturised copper single crystals”, 

granted: march 6-12, 2011, RofA Laboratory & process Analyzers, 7th european 

Winterschool on neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation, AUStRiA 

Kiener Daniel, Motz Christian, Dehm Gerhard 

top cited Author 2011 “micro-compression testing: A critical discussion of experimental 

constraints”, granted: 2011, materials Science and engineering A 505, (2009) 79-87, 

elsevier, USA 

Kirchlechner, Christoph 

Best poster Award “µ-Laue diffraction: A tool to probe imperfect crystals at the micron scale”, 

granted: march 6-12, 2011, RofA Laboratory & process Analyzers, 7th european Winter 

School on neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation, AUStRiA 

Kirchlechner, Christoph 

Würdigungspreis, granted: november 22, 2011, Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und 

forschung für Absolventinnen und Absolventen der wissenschaftlichen und künstlerischen 

Universitäten, AUStRiA 

Rathmayr, Georg 

Young Scientist Best poster prize / “influence of impurities and deformation temperature on 

the saturation microstructure and ductility of Hpt - deformed nickel”, granted: march 19-27, 

2011, nanoSpd5 in nanjing, cHinA 

Renk, Oliver 

Rektor-platzer-Ring, granted: december 16, 2011, montanuniversität Leoben, AUStRiA 

Zhang, Zaoli 

Best poster Award “comparative studies of the crn/cr/Si and crn/Si interfaces by cScorrected 

HRtem and Stem-eeLS”, granted: September 4-9, 2011, Urbino mcm 2011 / 

10th multinational congress on microscopy, itALY 



International 

Scientific Collaborations 2012 

Brno University of technology, Brno, cZecH RepUBLic 

Bruker-AXS gmbH, Karlsruhe, geRmAnY 

cnRS/cemeS, toulouse, fRAnce 

comtes fHt, plzeψ, cZecH RepULic 

deutscher Verband für materialforschung und -prüfung (dVm), Berlin, geRmAnY 

empA, thun, SWitZeRLAnd 

eSRf, grenoble, fRAnce 

forschungszentrum Karlsruhe gmbH, Karlsruhe, geRmAnY 

institute of metals and technology, Ljubljana, SLoWeniA 

instituto madrileño de estudios Avanzados de materiales (imdeA-materiales), madrid, 

SpAin 

Jiao tong University, institute of Aerospace Science and technology, Shanghai, cHinA 

max planck institute of colloids and interfaces, department of Biomaterials, potsdam, 

geRmAnY 

max planck institute for iron Research, düsseldorf, geRmAnY 

oRnL, oak Ridge national Laboratories, USA 

paul-Scherer-institut (pSi), Villigen, SWitZeRLAnd 

purdue University, West Lafayette, in, USA 

technion-israel, institute of technology, department materials engineering, Haifa, iSRAeL 

University Bratislava, institute of physics, Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava, SLoVAKiA 

University of colorado, department of mechanical engineering, Boulder, colorado, USA 

University of edinburgh, institute for materials and processes and centre for materials 

Science and engineering, edinburgh, United Kingdom 

University of Karlsruhe, iZBS, Karlsruhe, deUtScHLAnd 

University of illinois / Urbana-champ., illinois, USA 

University paul cézanne Aix-marseille, fRAnce 

University of maribor, faculty of mechanical engineering, SLoVeniA 

University of minnesota, department of Biomedical engineering, minneapolis, USA 

University of Rouen, groupe de physique des matériaux, france 

technical University of denmark, RiSØ national Laboratory, denmARK 

technical University of munich, Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffkunde und Werkstoffmechanik, 

fakultät für maschinenwesen, munich, geRmAnY 

Queen mary University, London, department of physics, United Kingdom 


National 


Anton paar gmbH, graz 

Böhler edelstahl gmbH, Kapfenberg 

Böhlerit gmbH, Kapfenberg 

infineon technologies Austria, Villach 

Karl franzens University of graz, experimental physics, graz 

Kompetenzzentrum Automobil- und industrieelektronik KAi, Villach 

Lce, Lösch cellular engineering, Leoben 

LKR Ranshofen gmbH, Ranshofen 

materials center Leoben gmbH, Leoben 

plansee Se, Reutte 

polymer competence center Leoben gmbH, Leoben 

Siemens VAi metals technology, Linz 

technical University of graz, institute of materials Science, graz 

technical University of graz, institute of Solid State physics, graz 

technical University of Vienna, center for computational materials Science, Vienna 

technical University of Vienna, institute of Solid State physics, Vienna 

University of national Resources, BoKU, Vienna 

University of Leoben, department physical metallurgy and materials testing, Leoben 

University Leoben, department of general and Analytical chemistry, Leoben 

University of Leoben, institute for Structural and function ceramics, Leoben 

University of Leoben, institute of plastics processing, Leoben 

University of Leoben, institute for mechanics, Leoben 

University of Leoben, institute of physics, Leoben 

University of Leoben, institute for materials Science and testing of plastics, Leoben 

University of Leoben, institute for mechanical engineering, Leoben 

University of Vienna, institute for physics, Vienna 

University of Vienna, institute of Solid State physics, Vienna 

Vif, the virtual Automobile K2, graz 

Voestalpine Schiene Ag, donawitz-Leoben 

Voestalpine Stahl Ag, Linz 

ScL Sensor tech gmbH, Wien 



Personnel information 

Scientists as of 31 .12 .2012 

(Wissenschafter) 

employer months 

Univ. prof. dr. g. dehm mUL/eSi 9 

Univ. prof. dr. J. Keckes mUL 12 

Univ. prof. dr. o. Kolednik eSi 12 

Univ. prof. dr. R. pippan eSi 12 

dr. m. cordill eSi/mUL 12 

dr. m. feuchter pccL 12 

dr. A. Hohenwarter eSi/mUL 12 

dr. d. Kiener mUL 12 

dr. c. Kirchlechner mUL 12 

dr. H. Li eSi/eURAtom 4 

dr. c. motz eSi 9 

dr. t. Schöberl eSi 12 

dr. S. Wurster eSi/eURAtom 12 

dr. Z. Zhang eSi 12 

dipl.-ing. m. Bartosik mUL/ffg 12 

dipl.-ing. W. grosinger mUL/ffg 6 

dipl.-ing. J. Hartmann Vif 9 

dipl.-ing. t. Harzer eSi 9 

dipl.-ing. p. imrich eSi 12 

dipl.-ing. c. Kammerhofer eSi/Voe 12 

dipl.-ing. m.W. Kapp mcL-comet K2 1 

dipl.-ing. K. Kormout eSi 3 

dipl.-ing. J. Kreith mcL/ffg 12 

dipl.-ing. K.H. Kunter Vif 12 

dipl.-ing. t. Leitner mUL 2 

dipl.-ing. J. maierhofer mcL-comet K2 12 

dipl.-ing. V. marx fWf/mUL 9 

dipl.-ing. W. ochensberger mcL-comet K2 12 

dipl.-ing. m. ognianov eSi/fWf 12 

dipl.-ing. B. philippi mcL-comet K2 9 

dipl.-ing. g. Rathmayr eSi/fWf 5 

dipl.-ing. J. Reiser mUL 12 

dipl.-ing. o. Renk ReS2000/fWf 12 

dipl.-ing. A. Riedl mcL-comet K2 12 

dipl.-ing. m. Sistaninia mcL-comet K2 12 

dipl.-ing. m. Stefenelli mcL-comet K2 12 

dipl.-ing. R. treml eSi 2 

dipl.-ing. A. Umgeber mcL-comet K2 10 

dipl.-ing. B. Völker infineon/KAi 12 

dipl.-ing. A. Wimmer infineon/KAi 12 

dipl.-ing. J. Zalesak mUL 4 

dipl.-ing. J. Zechner mcL-comet K2 12 

dipl.-ing. X. Zhou mcL-comet K2 3 



Scientific support as of 31 .12 .2012 

(Wissenschaftlich unterstützend) 

dr. H. Weinhandl eSi 12 

Others as of 31 .12 .2012 

(Sonstige mitarbeiter) employer months 

ing. W. Bernt eSi 12 

ing. H. felber eSi 12 

f. Hubner eSi 12 

g. Reiter eSi 12 

dipl.-ing. (fH) J. thomas eSi 12 

c. Scheiner eSi/mUL 12 

dipl.-ing. p. Kutlesa eSi 12 

S. modritsch mUL 12 

g. moser mUL 12 

m.A. fließer mUL 12 

V. Schrutt eSi 12 

W. Leitner eSi 12 

m. Karner eSi/mUL 12 

i. Simbürger eSi 12 

Diploma students and student workers as of 31 .12 .2012 

(diplomanden und studentische Hilfskräfte) 

J. Berger mUL 12 

S. Bigl infineon/KAi 3 

R. fritz ReS2000/eSi 2 

c. Hofer mUL 8 

g. Hübler eSi/fWf 7 

n. Jäger ReS2000/eSi/mUL 12 

m. W. Kapp eSi/mUL 9 

p. Kaufmann mUL 2 

K. Kormout ReS2000/eSi 9 

L. Krämer ReS2000/fWf/BWK 12 

t. Kremmer eSi/mUL 9 

m. Kreuzeder mUL 3 

A. Leitner mUL 12 

t. Leitner eSi/fWf/mUL 9 

g. milassin Vif 1 

J. pörnbacher mUL 9 

m. primorac mUL 4 

B. putz mUL 12 

J. todt mUL 12 

R. treml eSi/ReS0000/mUL 9 

m. Vasileva ReS2000/Voe 12 

Legend: 

eSi: 

erich Schmid institute, 

Austrian Academy of Sciences 

KAi: 

Kompetenzzentrum 

Automobil- und 

industrieelektronik 

mUL: 

University of Leoben 

mcL-comet K2: materials 

center Leoben, forschung 

gmbH via the comet K2 

programme 

fWf: 

national Science foundation 

(Austria) 

Vif: 

the virtual Automobile K2 

Voe: 

voestalpine Schienen gmbH 



Finances 

eSi’s basic funding by the Austria Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) has been stagnating at a 

relative constant level with 1.414 mio€ in 2007 and 1.400 mio€ in 2011 according to the annual 

budget letters. in 2012 the ÖAW institute budget was reduced to 1.358 mio€ and will further 

decrease significantly in 2013. only the transfer of one group (application oriented Spd) 

allowed the successful continuation of the research work. in 2012, 446 k€ had been acquired 

by third party funds registered via eSi-ÖAW (see figure below). 

the budget for the chair of materials physics (mp) from the montanuniversität Leoben 

decreased from 582 k€ in 2007 to 455 k€ in 2012 and contains materials expenses of only 

19 k€. the additional support by the BmWf (ministry of science) for the transferred research 

group in 2012 was 116K€. the third party project volume via the chair of materials physics 

was about 582K€. 

All investments and even a large part of the material expenses could only be realized via 

third party projects. Besides the third party project volume of about 1.1mio.€ of the research 

alliance eSi and mp, it has to be noted that in addition 8 scientists (mainly doctoral students) 

are financed by project partners (mcL, Vif, KAi (infineon)) working at the institute. 

Legend: 

ÖAW: Budget provided by Austrian Academy of Sciences according to the annual budget letters. 

the third party income registered via eSi-ÖAW came from the following sources: 

fWf: national Science foundation 

eU: european Union 

K2 mppe: Austrian comet excellence programme (managed by mcL) 

cdL: christian doppler Society 

ffg: Austrian Research promotion Agency 

KKKÖ: commission for coordinating fusion Research in Austria 

BmWfJ: federal ministry for economy, family and Youth

Scientific Advisory Board - Erich Schmid Institute

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