Metallic Materials
Innovative material development for the energy of the future.
Head of Deparment: Dr. Michael Rieth
Our research and development work is part of large-scale research and makes an important contribution to energy research at national and European level. As a partner in the Helmholtz Association's energy program and a member of the EUROfusion large-scale research project, we are actively shaping the future of nuclear fusion.
Focus
We develop structural and functional materials that can withstand extreme conditions. These include high temperatures and heat fluxes, as well as high-energy neutron radiation in combination with mechanical, chemical, or time-critical loads. The material properties are tailored by us for each specific application case. In this way, we open up new applications and areas of use in the field of energy conversion. Typical examples include components of a fusion power plant, such as plasma-facing components (divertor), heat exchangers (blanket), and neutron multipliers (tritium breeding elements).
Competence
Our research is application-oriented and, above all, takes place under the aspects of large-scale research. Therefore, alongside sustainability and cost-effectiveness, the focus is particularly on the use of industrial production, forming, joining, and manufacturing technologies. Starting from an idea, our materials development encompasses theoretical modelling, thermodynamic and thermo-mechanical simulations, production in the laboratory and on an industrial scale, experimental characterization of all relevant properties, microstructural and chemical analyses, the manufacturing of prototypes (semi-finished products and mockups), as well as component testing under the respective operating conditions. Our goal is to provide novel materials, including the materials technology process parameters and key characteristics required for production and component manufacturing.
Network
Despite our focus on materials for very specific applications, the boundary conditions, requirements, and properties to be considered are very complex and diverse. So not all necessary investigations and experiments can be carried out within our department. Therefore, we collaborate closely with a variety of partners from KIT, industry, and other research institutions both domestically and internationally. In particular, the characterization and testing of prototypes requires access to large-scale facilities, such as test reactors for neutron irradiation: : HFIR, BR2, or experimental setups for the investigation of plasma-material interactions: HELOKA, ASDEX, GLADIS, JUDITH & JULE-PSI.
Automated modeling and validation
Group
Publicationslist
Squires, D.; Sailer, E.; Natal, J.; Saw, A.; Ray, N.; Fuchs, M.
2026, March 11. DPG-Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie / Arbeitskreis Beschleunigerphysik (SKM 2026), Dresden, Germany, March 8–13, 2026
Bründermann, E.; Härer, B.
2026, March 12. DPG-Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie / Arbeitskreis Beschleunigerphysik (SKM 2026), Dresden, Germany, March 8–13, 2026
Koutsostathis, A.; Brosi, M.; Müller, A.-S.
2026, March 10. DPG-Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie / Arbeitskreis Beschleunigerphysik (SKM 2026), Dresden, Germany, March 8–13, 2026
Braner, S.; Noll, M.-D.; Steinmann, J. L.; Huttel, E.; Müller, A.-S.; Bründermann, E.; Caselle, M.
2026, March 9. DPG-Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie / Arbeitskreis Beschleunigerphysik (SKM 2026), Dresden, Germany, March 8–13, 2026
Vöhringer, M.; Marek, A.; Illy, S.; Thumm, M.; Feuerstein, L.; Wu, C.; Jelonnek, J.
2025. 5th Quantitative NMR Methods for Process and Reaction Monitoring (NMRPM 2025), Kaiserslautern, Germany, March 31–April 2, 2025
Donoso, F.
2026, March 4. 6th deRSE26 - conference for Research Software Engineering in Germany (2026), Stuttgart, Germany, March 3–5, 2026
Funkner, S.
2026, March. 12th International Workshop on Terahertz Technology and Applications (2026), Kaiserslautern, Germany, March 3–4, 2026
Nick, A.; Lamesic, L.; Deml, B.
2026. Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2026, 457–465, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). doi:10.1145/3820253.3831374
Funaki, Y.; Meinhardt, H. I.
2006. Waseda seiji keizaigaku zasshi = The Waseda journal of political science and economics, 363, 126–136
Meinhardt, H. I.
2014. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3022.2486
Meinhardt, H. I.
2014. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.1121.7041
Meinhardt, H. I.
2016. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.27274.06080
Meinhardt, H. I.
2018. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.27739.82729
Meinhardt, H. I.
2017, December. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.20065.15205
Meinhardt, H. I.
2013. The Pre-Kernel as a Tractable Solution for Cooperative Games. Ed.: Hervé Moulin, 47–61, Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39549-9_5
Meinhardt, H. I.
2013. The Pre-Kernel as a Tractable Solution for Cooperative Games – An Exercise in Algorithmic Game Theory. Ed.: Hervé Moulin, 27–46, Springer-Verlag. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39549-9_4