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FunBlocks

Fundamental Building Blocks – Understanding plasticity in complex crystals based on their simplest, intergrown units

CoordinatorRWTH Aachen University
Grant period2020-06-01 - 2025-05-31
Funding bodyEuropean Union
Call numberERC-2019-STG
Grant number852096
IdentifierG:(EU-Grant)852096

Note: New structural materials with higher strength and temperature capabilities are the key enablers of sustain-able energy conversion and transport technology of the future. The question is: How do we find those central high-performers combining high strength and the essential deformability giving safety in application? It is the aim of FUNBLOCKS to provide the first systematic studies of plasticity mechanisms in the most fundamental building blocks of complex crystals. These will allow us to deduce the missing basic mechanisms and signatures of plasticity. FUNBLOCKS will take a new approach by studying the much simpler sub-units that form the multitude of more complex crystals with large unit cells amongst the intermetallics. This has three major implications: i) the reduction to fundamental units allows suffi-cient time to unravel the major deformation mechanisms to the atomic level, ii) the recurrent nature of the few fundamental building blocks will allow a transfer of this knowledge to a large number of complex phases and iii) together, this will enable data mining from the vast and largely unexplored phase space of intermetallics. The key aspect of FUNBLOCKS is therefore to close the existing gap in knowledge and allow us to find promising new phases by elucidating the fundamental relationships between crystal structure and plasticity beyond what we know in simple metals. To identify and quantify the intrinsic mechanical properties of each sub-unit, state-of-the-art micromechanical testing techniques will be used. Transfer of data and verification of the central hypothesis, that fundamental units govern plasticity in complex crystals, will be achieved via additional alloyed crystals forming ternary variants of the binary structures. Ultimately, FUNBLOCKS will answer fundamental questions in plasticity, most prominently the interplay of deformation and structure in complex crystals, and thereby support the development of new high performance materials.
     

Recent Publications

All known publications ...
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Solute co-segregation mechanisms at low-angle grain boundaries in magnesium: A combined atomic-scale experimental and modeling study
Acta materialia 306, 121947 () [10.1016/j.actamat.2026.121947]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Journal Article  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;
On the atomic nature of complex dislocation locks in C15 Laves phases
Acta materialia 303, 121700 () [10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121700]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Journal Article  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;
Redefining plasticity in a cubic intermetallic: Dislocation dynamics in the CaAl2 Laves phase
Acta materialia 303, 121604 () [10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121604]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Dissertation / PhD Thesis  ;  ;
Influence of crystal structure and chemical composition on the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of the Ta-Fe(-Al) C14 Laves and μ-phase
Aachen : RWTH Aachen University 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen () [10.18154/RWTH-2025-09041] = Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2025, Kumulative Dissertation  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Dissertation / PhD Thesis  ;  ;
“Plasticity of the structurally related intermetallic phases in the Sm-Co system”
Aachen : RWTH Aachen University 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen () [10.18154/RWTH-2025-07212] = Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2025, Kumulative Dissertation  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Journal Article  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;
Plastic deformation of Mg17Al12 at 25–250 °C – Properties and dislocation mechanisms
Materials and design 255, 114151 () [10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114151]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Journal Article  ;  ;
First-principles insights into the site occupancy of Ta–Fe–Al C14 Laves phases
Computational materials science 253, 113856 () [10.1016/j.commatsci.2025.113856]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Journal Article (Review Article)  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;
Mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms of the C14 Laves and µ-phase in the ternary Ta-Fe(-Al) system
Materials and design 251, 113625 () [10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113625]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

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Beyond Fundamental Building Blocks : Plasticity in Structurally Complex Crystals
Advanced materials 37(6), 2414376 () [10.1002/adma.202414376]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Journal Article  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;
Grain boundary segregation spectrum in basal-textured Mg alloys : From solute decoration to structural transition
Acta materialia 283, 120556 () [10.1016/j.actamat.2024.120556]  GO OpenAccess  Download fulltext Files BibTeX | EndNote: XML, Text | RIS

All known publications ...
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 Record created 2020-09-05, last modified 2023-02-09



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