State Research Center OPTIMAS

Nano Structuring Center (NSC) once again awarded

Award-winning picture taken at the Nano Structuring Center of the University of Kaiserslautern (T. Löber, June 2016). The award was given by FEI (Oregon, USA). The SEM picture shows a cross section of an iron sample that was heavily bent until it cracked.

On a regular basis, the Nano Structuring Center (NSC), which is closely associated with OPTIMAS, submits contributions to contests about nano structuring and SEM picture taking. By taking part in such contests, the NSC matches its own work with colleagues worldwide with regard to the state of the art.

Just recently, Dr. Thomas Löber was awarded a 1st prize by FEI company in their ongoing contest about Focused Ion Beam (FIB) techniques. The SEM picture that was awarded shows a cross section of an iron sample that was heavily bent until it cracked. The ion image shows the resulting crack and also the crystal structure of the iron. The studies are supposed to reveal whether such cracks induced by mechanical stress result in changes of the crystal structure. The picture shows that indeed the crack changes the crystal structure from large clusters at both sides to very small clusters near the crack. The studies were performed for Stefan Averbeck from the research group for materials testing (Prof. Dr.-Ing. W. Kerscher, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering) of the University of Kaiserslautern.

Award-winning picture taken at the Nano Structuring Center of the University of Kaiserslautern (T. Löber, June 2016). The award was given by FEI (Oregon, USA). The SEM picture shows a cross section of an iron sample that was heavily bent until it cracked.