Keynote Speaker
Prof. Paul H. Mayrhofer
Institute of Materials Science and Technology, TU Wien, 1060 Vienna, AustriaSpeech Title: Materials Science-Based Guidelines to Develop Robust Hard Thin Film Materials
Abstract: For mechanically dominated load profiles, nitrides are preferred as the base material for structural and functional hard coatings, while oxide-based materials offer better protection against high-temperature corrosion (such as oxidation). Thus, when mechanical and thermal loads are combined, the nitrides used should also have excellent stability against temperature and oxidation. How to develop such nitride materials that can withstand both high mechanical and thermal loads is the focus of this review article. This is done primarily with the help of experimental and theoretical investigations of the Ti–Al–N system.
On the basis of transition metal nitride coatings, we discuss important material development guidelines for improved strength, fracture toughness as well as thermal stability and oxidation resistance. Using various superlattice coatings, we further discuss how such nanolamellar microstructures can improve both the strength and fracture toughness of hard coating materials. In addition, other concepts for improving fracture toughness are discussed, with a focus on those that can increase both fracture toughness and hardness.
The individual concepts allow to design materials to meet the ever-growing demand for coatings with a wide range of excellent properties and outstanding property combinations.
Biography: Paul Mayrhofer has pioneered age hardening within ceramic thin films and is fascinated by phase transitions in general. His research activities focus on developing nanostructured materials by a combination of computational and experimental material science. He won some prestigious prizes and served scientific societies in numerous appointed and elected positions. He is an elected member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In 2018 he was appointed Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS). Since 2020 he has been the Delegate for Materials Science at the Austrian Science Fund. In 2023 he won the Bill Sproul Award of the AVS for his seminal contributions to materials-science-based guidelines for improved thermal stability, strength and toughness of nitride and boride-based thin film. He has published more than 330 SCI-listed papers in the general field of thin film materials science, with >16,700 citations to these (h-index of 69; GS), and holds 13 patents regarding hard coatings.