The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) is a materials research organization in Germany, which covers a broad range of topics in the focus areas of energy, infrastructure, environment, materials, and analytical sciences. As an integral part of the digital scientific strategy of BAM, the recently established division Material Informatics, headed by Tilmann Hickel, focuses on ab initio guided materials design and simulation on the atomic, meso- and nanoscale. Our mission is the development of novel multiphysics and multiscale approaches as well as the explanation of groundbreaking experimental phenomena.

If you want to combine a PhD on material topics of central interest for society with innovative ab initio-based methods and with modern digital concepts, we would like to welcome you in our team. More specifically, we currently have PhD positions for two projects:

In the first project, we want to investigate defect properties in high-entropy alloys. Here, the strong impact of the chemical diversity of high-entropy alloys on the structure and energetics of planar defects and, hence, the performance of novel materials will be addressed. Within this project, we aim at meaningful correlations between various defect properties and their composition dependence so that the evaluation of one defect can be used to provide insights about another. Methodological keywords are ab initio thermodynamics, machine-learning potentials, CALPHAD informed density-based models, iterative cluster-expansion, and reproducible digital workflows.  

In the second project, we want to investigate the diffusion of hydrogen in metallic alloys, as it is important for understanding the mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement in structural materials and for optimizing the performance of hydrogen storage in metallic alloys. While this is well investigated in perfect crystal structures, the kinetics becomes complex in realistic materials containing microstructures with defects and various alloying elements. Ab initio calculations will be combined with approximate approaches on the continuum scale as well as kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations to determine the spatial, temperature and time dependence of the diffusion. On the experimental side, the results are compared with thermal desorption spectroscopy measurements.

For more details on the research topics of the division please check our webpage at https://www.bam.de . If you require further information on the specific projects or would like to submit an application, please contact Tilmann Hickel ([email protected]). The positions can and will be occupied immediately. BAM pursues the goal of professional equality between women and men. We therefore particularly welcome applications from women. In addition, BAM supports the integration of severely disabled persons and therefore especially welcomes their applications.