Welcome at the Institute for Applied Materials
The Institute for Applied Materials (IAM) is a leading institution in research and education in materials science and technology. With its interdepartmental character it is one of the largest facilities of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). It pursues the KIT missions of research, teaching and innovation and contributes to the areas of energy, nano- and microtechnology, and mobility systems.
IAM pursues an interdisciplinary approach to materials research that covers the diversity and multiscale character of materials science. In cooperation with national and international partners, we study materials from their atomic structure to their function in the product. Our activities bridge the gap from materials development over process technology to systems integration.
In teaching IAM is responsible for the consecutive bachelor/master course Materials Science and Engineering. It also provides the materials science education in other university programs in engineering and natural sciences.
IAM has broad methodological competences in the fields of materials synthesis, processing, characterization, and simulation. It, thus, offers an attractive scientific environment and excellent opportunities for scientific and personal development to its members.
Contact
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Managing Director Prof. Dr. mont. Christoph Kirchlechner
Tel.: +49 721 608-24815 christoph.kirchlechner∂kit.edu
Dr. Johanna Lampert
Tel.: +49 721 608 47912
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More than 500 employees are working at the 8 IAM units
link to IAM Units
For all those interested we offer insights into materials science research
Link to IAM Events
The interdisciplinary BSc and MSc programs "Materials Science and Engineering" combine fundamentals with applications
link to MatWerk
The IAM-AWP is organizing the international CALPHAD conference, which will take place in Mannheim from 26. to 31.05.24 with around 220 participants. It offers scientists and students interested in the thermodynamics of materials the opportunity to meet, present and discuss their work.
On April 1, 2024, Xufei Fang started his ERC Starting Grant awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) at the IAM-MMI.
His project MECERDIS aims to fundamentally understand the mechanisms of dislocations in ceramics and help tailor new functional ceramic materials.
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The start-up Litona, founded at KIT (IAM-ESS), wants to produce the energy storage material "Prussian white" for the production of sodium-ion batteries on an industrial scale and thus support the European production of next-generation batteries.
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On February 22 SWR filmed with Dr. Klaus Hesch, spokesperson for the FUSION program, and Prof. Dr. Christoph Kirchlechner in the Fusion Materials Laboratory and captured a few impressions of both the work on hot cells and the glove boxes.
Fusion research in the state was to provide a framework for a report on the SWR Aktuell Baden-Württemberg program about the Bundestag debate on funding for fusion research on February 23.
Link to the report at ARD-Mediathek (German only)
Petra Olschowski, Minister of Science, Research and the Arts in Baden-Württemberg, visited the IAM-MMI's Fusion Materials Laboratory on February 13, 2024 together with Dr. Ronny Feuer, Head of the Department for Mobility, Energy, Aerospace, Industry 4.0 and Alexander Salomon, Member of the Karlsruhe State Parliament.
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In cooperation with Texas A&M University, IAM-ET for the first time could simulate and analyze the interfacial layer formation between lithium-metal anodes and liquid electrolytes at molecular resolution, reaching into the µs-scale. The results enhance the understanding of the so-called solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) and provide access to new strategies for knowledge-driven design of the SEI. The study was published in Nature Communications.
Link to the publication
For the lecture „Wasserstoff in Materialien: von der Energiespeicherung zur Materialversprödung“ ("Hydrogen in Materials: from Energy Storage to Material Embrittlement") at IAM-WK, Prof. Astrid Pundt receives the KIT Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Teaching Award. With faculty teaching awards, the KIT Presidium honors courses that are characterized by new forms of teaching and learning, interdisciplinarity, and high topicality of the imparted expert knowledge.
About 170 colleagues from the different IAM parts met for scientific exchange at the IAM networking seminar on 28.04.2023. After the presentations and at the posters, there were lively discussions, new contacts were made and common topics were identified. By popular demand, this format will be held again in the future.
Geothermal energy not only enables a sustainable supply of electricity and heat, but also, incidentally, regional lithium extraction. KIT researchers - including those from IAM-ESS - and EnBW have produced a lithium ion screen from a lithium-manganese oxide and used it to adsorb lithium from geothermal brines. In the future, using domestic lithium sources can help meet the increasing demand for the light metal, which is indispensable as an energy storage material.
Link to Press Release at KIT
Together with HIU and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, IAM-ESS has developed a new mechanochemical process for the recovery of lithium. Compared to the available metallurgical processes, this process promises higher yields at lower cost and greater sustainability (publication in Nature Communications Chemistry).
Link to Press Release at KIT
On March 29, Prof. Hoffmann was awarded the Seger Plaque by the German Ceramic Society (DKG) at its annual meeting (https://dkg.de/dkg/ehrungen/seger-plakette). The plaque honors personalities who have made outstanding scientific achievements in the field of ceramics.
Astrid Pundt (IAM-WK) was elected chairwoman of the working group of the Metal and Materials Physics (MM) of the German Physical Society (DPG) in the section of condensed method section of the German Physical Society (DPG) and was appointed KIT representative to the Materials Engineering.
Martin Heilmaier (IAM-WK) was elected at the DGM meeting in Darmstadt in the fall as one of the two Presidents of the German Society for Materials Science. The term of office is two years and starts on 01.01.2023
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