We have accomplished our goal of utilising chip calorimetry for non-equilibrium phase transitions in relevant metals (1,2). The gained methodical results in the field of advanced chip calorimetry have been published and satisfy our expectation on the indented high-performance high-rate calorimetry. Our methodology was already applied on in situ measurements of non-equilibrium phase transitions in different alloys (e.g. Al alloys for additive manufacturing). Our work on measuring non-equilibrium vacancy evolution at high rates and the required increased sensitivity led to unexpected results, such as the possibility to precisely measure the specific heat capacity of small scaled samples at rapid rates.
The progress in microscopic observations of non-equilibrium phase transitions within TRANSDESIGN has already triggered the new field of “Nanometallurgy” and we made vast improvement in the in situ observation of phase transitions via electron microscopy (3,4). Transitions in metals studied range from the melting, solidification, sublimation, precipitation, diffusion and alloying to the effect of very high non-equilibrium concentrations caused by ion or electron bombardment. The observation of vacancy marker atoms was possible. In general, we have made fundamental progress in the understanding of non-equilibrium vacancy behavior within TRANSDESIGN (5). Especially our in situ electron microscopy studies on high non-equilibrium concentrations caused by ion or electron bombardment and their effects in different materials led to an unexpected fast fulfilment of the future goal to design phase transition kinetics in non-equilibrium metallic systems with the help of TRANSDESIGN. A new material derived from this (6) that can withstand the extreme conditions in space has attracted a lot of international attention. Our most recent work on this topic has not yet gone through the full peer review process, but already the pre-print on it has triggered worldwide media interest (e.g. an interview of the PI at the end of the project in 2023 with the British magazine "New Scientist"). At the time of the final report, 24 peer-reviewed articles had already been published in leading journals and several more are in the process of publication.
Example references:
1. Quick, C. R., Schawe, J. E. K., Uggowitzer, P. J. & Pogatscher, S. Measurement of specific heat capacity via fast scanning calorimetry—Accuracy and loss corrections. Thermochim Acta 677, (2019).
2. Quick, C. R., Dumitraschkewitz, P., Schawe, J. E. K. & Pogatscher, S. Fast differential scanning calorimetry to mimic additive manufacturing processing: specific heat capacity analysis of aluminium alloys. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, (2023).
3. Coradini, D. S. R. et al. In situ transmission electron microscopy as a toolbox for the emerging science of nanometallurgy. Lab Chip (2023).
4. Dumitraschkewitz, P. et al. MEMS-Based in situ electron-microscopy investigation of rapid solidification and heat treatment on eutectic Al-Cu. Acta Mater 239, 118225 (2022).
5. Dumitraschkewitz, P., Uggowitzer, P. J., Gerstl, S. S. A., Löffler, J. F. & Pogatscher, S. Size-dependent diffusion controls natural aging in aluminium alloys. Nat Commun (2019).
6. Tunes, M. A., Stemper, L., Greaves, G., Uggowitzer, P. J. & Pogatscher, S. Prototypic Lightweight Alloy Design for Stellar-Radiation Environments. Advanced Science 7, (2020).
