Theme 1: Damage and failure in advanced engineering materials
Novel materials rely on multiple phases with contrasting mechanical behavior to offer unprecedented possibilities to boost the material behavior, however, the high density of interfaces / interphases also triggers damage initiation at the microstructure level and controls how damage evolves and propagates to fracture at the macroscale. Our research focuses on in-situ (multi-axial) testing with direct microscopic visualization to unravel the damage evolution in advanced engineering materials. For instance, for dual phase steel, we revealed a new damage mechanism in martensite, i.e. sliding of its substructure boundaries, which explained a long-standing contradiction in literature, thereby pushing forward the future potential of this critical steel for the automotive industry.
Group Hoefnagels: www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/hoefnagels-group/
Novel materials rely on multiple phases with contrasting mechanical behavior to offer unprecedented possibilities to boost the material behavior, however, the high density of interfaces / interphases also triggers damage initiation at the microstructure level and controls how damage evolves and propagates to fracture at the macroscale. Our research focuses on in-situ (multi-axial) testing with direct microscopic visualization to unravel the damage evolution in advanced engineering materials. For instance, for dual phase steel, we revealed a new damage mechanism in martensite, i.e. sliding of its substructure boundaries, which explained a long-standing contradiction in literature, thereby pushing forward the future potential of this critical steel for the automotive industry.
Group Hoefnagels: www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/hoefnagels-group/