MAPEX Core Facility for Materials Analytics

• Subject Area: Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials ; Mechanical Properties of Metallic Materials and their Microstructural Origins
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 434618658

The University of Bremen plans to establish a core facility (CF) bringing together high-end equipment for the structural and chemical characterization of materials of all classes. The CF will be embedded institutionally within the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes, whose members are affiliated to all five STEM faculties of the university as well as to non-university research institutes, all within walking distance at the university campus. It will comprise five investigation areas: (1) electron microscopy; (2) 3D materials analytics; (3) surface analytics; (4) X-ray diffraction; (5) spectroscopy. The MAPEX-CF will comprise several instruments not commonly available at one and the same institution, which will give it a distinctive scientific character and will enable cutting-edge studies in a wide range of materials science and engineering applications. We expect the facility to gain high visibility and scientific recognition in the whole of Germany, Europe and worldwide. Scientists belonging to institutions external to the University of Bremen will be able to access the MAPEX-CF instrumentation according to transparent and publicly available user rules, at prices in accordance with the recommendation of the DFG. On average, in each investigation area at least 20% of the measuring time will be reserved to external scientists with highest priority.The scientific focus of the MAPEX-CF will be the investigation of structural, topographical and chemical changes taking place on the surface and in the bulk of materials during their synthesis, manufacturing and use. The principal investigators and the application scientists responsible for the five areas will promote the establishment of correlative workflows enabling the investigation of the same sample regions with complementary techniques. High-throughput screening protocols will be realized to analyse a large number of samples in the shortest possible time and with the largest degree of automatization. We will strive to perform in-situ, real-time studies of the materials changes under varying environmental conditions, in particular across large temperature windows and in chemically harsh environments.The MAPEX-CF for materials analytics will promote and strengthen new scientific cooperation, it will also act as a channel for knowledge transfer to and from the private sector and the general public. A governance concept for the management and use of the facility across the boundaries of the different participating faculties and groups will be implemented. After termination of the DFG financial contribution, the University of Bremen will continue to operate the CF and maintain the created governance and management structures on a long-term basis. In particular, an existing four-stories building on the university campus will be completely refurbished and will host the equipment pertinent to the MAPEX-CF on the long term.

• DFG Programme: Core Facilities
• Applicant Institution: Universität Bremen
• Leader: Professor Dr.-Ing. Lucio Colombi Ciacchi
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Jens Falta; Professor Dr. Thorsten Michael Gesing; Professor Dr.-Ing. Axel Herrmann; Professor Dr. Andreas Rosenauer
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Andreas Lüttge