Student projects
Department of Scale Bridging Thermodynamic and Kinetic Simulations
If you are interested in a student research project in the department Scale Bridging Thermodynamic and Kinetic Simulations please contact the named advisor or Prof. Ingo Steinbach.
-
Master Thesis: Phase field modeling of 3D eutectic nano-photonic metamaterials (Prof. Dr. Fathollah Varnik))
Nano-photonic materials find a broad range of applications including optoelectronic devices, microelectronics and green energy (e.g., solar cells). A key ingredient of nano-photonic materials is a porous structure, designed for a particular purpose. When combined with the optical properties of the underlying material, a specific functionality can be obtained (e.g., intensification of light for a higher absorption in solar cells). In this context, computer aided microstructure design is a very powerful tool to reduce development cost and time in this active sector.The present master project thus aims at computer aided microstructure design of nano-photonic metamaterial via phase field modeling of porous structures with optimized nano-optical properties. A eutectic Silicon-Aluminum system will be chosen as the nano-photonic model system via directional solidification along ceramic templates like Al2O3 or SiO2. After removing Al, optical properties of designed Si with hierarchical structure will be investigated and compared with Bulk Si and other conventional materials in photonics.
The study will be conducted using the versatile software package OpenPhase (www.openphase.de) in collaboration with Dr. Oleg Shchyglo, ICAMS. The phase field model is combined with smooth boundary method to utilize directional solidification of eutectics to define hierarchical organization of matter at length scales between 10-1000 nm, taking into account the effect of interfacial energies, chemical miscibility, anisotropy, and crystal structures.
A close collaboration with Dr. Ali Ramazani, MIT, Boston, USA, is part of this research initiative.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Fathollah Varnik
-
Master Thesis: Simulation of indentation tests using a new physics based material model (Dr. habil. Volker Mohles)
In this project, a new material model for Aluminium alloys is to be implemented and tested in the commercial Finite-Element-Model ABAQUS. The new material model can handle both, standard deformation work hardening as well as creep in a single physics based analytical description. As a first benchmark for proper functionality, the first tests will simulate indentation tests like in hardness measurements with a pre-defined geometry (see right). The first task is to make the simulations work properly; after that, the new material model allows to predict the hardness and the microstructure evolution (dislocation density distribution) depending on temperature or alloy composition.Applicants need to have basic programming skills in any programming language, ideally Fortran.
Contact: Dr. habil. Volker Mohles
-
Master Thesis: Simulation of the Zener drag using a front tracking model (Dr. habil. Volker Mohles)
In real materials, the motion of grain boundaries is inhibited by particles of secondary chemical phases. This effect is crucially important to control the recrystallization process in commercial material production lines. The interaction strength between grain boundaries and particles is known in their dependence on particle size, volume fraction, and grain boundary energy. However, there are many more influences, like different particle shapes or arangements in space, or grain boundary energy anisotropy. In this project, a new simulation tool is to be used to calculate and describe such dependences for the first time.Applicants need to have basic programming skills in any programming language, ideally in C++.
Contact: Dr. habil. Volker Mohles
