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
Dall, N.; Hagge, H. G.; Mayer, P.; Faklaris, C.
2026. Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–17, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). doi:10.1145/3772318.3791187
Günthner, A.; Brezovsky, M.; Schulte, F.; Winiwarter, L.; Mandlburger, G.; Jutzi, B.
2026. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XI-2-2026, 585–593. doi:10.5194/isprs-annals-XI-2-2026-585-2026
Petrovska, I.; Jutzi, B.
2026. ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XI-1-2026, 17–24. doi:10.5194/isprs-annals-XI-1-2026-17-2026
Flores Salinas, A. A.
2026, May 6. (L. Spitzmüller, Ed.), DGMK/ÖGEW-Frühjahrstagung "Beneath the Surface - engineering the future of energy" (2026), Münster, Germany, May 6–7, 2026
Flores Salinas, A. A.
2026. (L. Spitzmüller, Ed.)
Khandelwal, A.; Kumar Sharma, P. A.; Schweidler, S.; Tischler, P.; Lemmer, U.; Röhm, H.; Colsmann, A.; Aghassi-Hagmann, J.; Breitung, B.
2026. Materials & Design, 268, Art.Nr: 116517. doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2026.116517
Wu, C.; Schmidt, A.; Feuerstein, L.; Mondal, D.; Bertazzoni, R.; Ell, B.; Illy, S.; Misko, M.; Thumm, M.; Vöhringer, M.; Jelonnek, J.
2026. 23rd Joint Workshop on Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) (2026), Barcelona, Spain, May 18–22, 2026
Illy, S.; Argyropoulos, C.; Avramidis, K. A.; Chelis, I.; Ell, B.; Feuerstein, L.; Gantenbein, G.; Ioannidis, Z.; Jelonnek, J.; Jin, J.; Katsara, E.; Latsas, G.; Peponis, D.; Rzesnicki, T.; Thumm, M.; Tigelis, I.; Wu, C.
2026. 23rd Joint Workshop on Electron Cyclotron Emission (ECE) and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) (2026), Barcelona, Spain, May 18–22, 2026
Eisenblätter, L.
2026, June 23. 14th MT-ARD Subtopic 3 Annual Meeting (MT-ARD-ST3 2026), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany, June 23–25, 2026
Peters, J.; Rappenecker, K.; Deeg, F.; Herbst, F.; Riehl, D.; Leiacker, D.; Kupnik, M.; Hofmann, K.; Matthiesen, S.
2026. Sensors, 26 (14), Art.Nr: 4415. doi:10.3390/s26144415
Yeysin, L.; Akın, D.; Çalışkan, S.; Hasanoğlu Özkan, E.; Hashem, H.; Akocak, S.; Bräse, S.; Çete, S.
2026. Pharmaceuticals, 19 (7), Art.Nr: 1079. doi:10.3390/ph19071079
Mu, X.; Geiges, J.; Liu, N.; Schlachter, T.; Hagenmeyer, V.
2027. Electric Power Systems Research, 262, Art.Nr: 113519. doi:10.1016/j.epsr.2026.113519
Khabou, M. A.; Schulze, V.; Dietrich, S.
2026. Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing 2026 (ECNDT 2026), June 15-19, 2026 in Verona, Italy (ECNDT 2026), NDT.net. doi:10.58286/33617
Cao, J.; Dörich, B.; Hochbruck, M.; Li, B.
2026. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000195250
Rapp, S.; Feick, M.; Maedche, A.
2026. CHIWORK Adjunct ’26: Adjunct Proceedings of the 5th Annual Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work, June 22 - 25, 2026, Linz, Austria. Ed.: P. Wintersberger, 1–6, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). doi:10.1145/3805029.3818277
Schmidt, A.; Münch, T.
2026. Web Information Systems and Technologies – 20th International Conference, WEBIST 2024, Porto, Portugal, November 17–19, 2024, Revised Selected Papers. Ed.: M. Marchiori, 18–48, Springer Nature Switzerland. doi:10.1007/978-3-032-25534-1_2