Institute of Physical Metallurgy and Metal Physics (IMM)
Although metals have been manufactured for more than 5,000 years, it was only in the 20th century that the causes for the remarkable qualities of metallic materials were successfully discovered. This breakthrough was made possible by the application of methods of physics. Since then, there is a discipline of Metal Physics at the RWTH Aachen, represented by the Institute of Physical Metallurgy and Metal Physics with Professor Sandra Korte-Kerzel as its present chair.
Metal physics develops experimental methods and theoretical concepts to investigate the complex relationships between the electronic structure and arrangement of atoms in the metal and the various related phenomena and characteristics such as electrical, thermal and superconductivity, magnetism, superplasticity, shape memory and so on.
The Institute of Physical Metallurgy and Metal Physics is extremely successfully engaged in research in the area of analysis, modelling and control of microstructures in metallic materials. For this purpose, the collection of materials data for developing simulation programs plays a significant role.