Is it dangerous to sit in a cinema for two hours with thirty people?

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3mE researchers partner in two NWA-ORC consortia

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'We measure people' so doctors can treat patients in a more targeted way

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Tasty vegetables from a smart greenhouse

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TU Delft develops more efficient Thermoelectric Energy Production techniques

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Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE)

     

Information coronavirus

For information concerning the measures taken by the University and Faculty against the spreading of the coronavirus Covid-19, please consult the following pages:

Coronavirus updates TU Delft Coronavirus updates Faculty 3mE

TU Delft software for determining contagion risk for specific locations

TU Delft professor of aerodynamics Fulvio Scarano, together with fluid mechanics expert Lorenzo Botto and simulation expert Wouter van den Bos, has developed software to calculate the risk of Covid-19 contagion at specific locations. The model virtually places a sick person in the space in question and simulates how quickly virus particles spread. The TU Delft researchers hope that designers will use the software to make predictions for determining whether an aircraft, classroom or restaurant, for example, is safe. The plug-in will probably become available in February.

3mE researchers partner in two NWA-ORC consortia

Researchers from TU Delft will work together in nine consortia with the entire knowledge chain and societal organisations, and conduct interdisciplinary research that will bring scientific and societal breakthroughs within reach. Faculty 3mE takes part in two consortia.

Graphene balloons to identify noble gases

New research by scientists from Delft University of Technology and the University of Duisburg-Essen uses the motion of atomically thin graphene to identify noble gases. These gases are chemically passive and do not react with other materials, which makes it challenging to detect them. The findings are reported in the journal Nature Communications.

New sensor chips: low-cost, smart and efficient

A chip with a built-in sensor that is so sensitive that it registers a single coronavirus particle. At TU Delft, several researchers in various faculties, including Frans Widdershoven (EW), Peter Steeneken, professor Dynamics of Micro and Nanosystems and Murali Ghatkesar (PME/3mE) are working on this research.

A Mechanism for Designing High-Entropy Alloys with improved Magnetic Properties

Magnetic materials are everywhere - in engines, wind turbines, electronic devices and refrigerators - so materials with better magnetic properties are highly desirable. TU Delft researchers Biswanath Dutta and Fritz Körmann of the department of Materials Science and Engineering have revealed a mechanism for improving the magnetic properties of a relatively new class of multicomponent alloys known as HEAs. Their work is published this week in Advanced Functional materials. High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) were first proposed about 15 years ago and since then, they have aroused a lot of interest within the materials science community because of their excellent physical, mechanical and functional properties e.g. greater strength, promising magnetic properties, and better resistance to rusting and corrosion. “The focus of this project was to find new mechanisms with which we could improve the magnetic properties of an HEA,” says Dutta. “And to do this, you have to play with the chemistry so change the composition of the alloy.” Unlike traditional alloys, which usually consist of one major component with a small amount of another added element e.g. steel, which is an alloy of iron mixed with 1% carbon, HEAs consist of five or more elements in more-or-less equal proportions. In this study, the team played around with the composition of a FeCoNiMnCu HEA, which contains iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper. “Our colleagues at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung in Germany heated this material at a particular fixed temperature for different lengths of time,” says Dutta. “And they noticed two things: one was that heating the HEA for 240 hours improved its magnetic properties. And two, that within the material, the different elements became segregated into different regions within the alloy.” Using this information, Dutta ran theoretical simulations and was ultimately able to explain why, after prolonged heating, you get improved magnetic properties: “Copper doesn’t like to make a solid homogenous mixture with the other elements and so the more you heat the sample, the more the copper tries to separate out from the other four elements, leading to different regions with different compositions - for example, an iron-cobalt rich region and a copper rich region.” These different regions have unequal volumes causing what is known as coherency stress between a bigger volume and a smaller one. “And if one of these regions is particularly important for the magnetic properties, a volume expansion can improve those magnetic properties.” So in fact there are two mechanisms at work here: one is the formation of two regions with different chemical compositions - a phenomenon known technically as Spinodal Decomposition - and the other factor is the resulting difference in volume and therefore coherency stress between the different regions. With a better understanding of these mechanisms, researchers can begin to investigate other magnetic HEAs and multicomponent alloys to determine whether this same behaviour occurs causing an improvement in their magnetic properties. “This concept of trying to improve magnetic properties through Spinodal Decomposition is very new,” says Dutta, “And these new mechanisms will help us to find new magnetic material for potential use in, for example, refrigeration systems based less on gases and more on solid-state magnetic materials which will be much more environmentally friendly.” Dr. S. Dutta +31682429756 b.dutta@tudelft.nl Dr. F.H.W. Körmann F.H.W.Kormann@tudelft.nl

More efficient conversion of heat into electricity by tinkering with nanostructure

Researchers TU Delft have not only been able to explain how nano-structures in thermoelectric materials can improve energy efficiency but they also propose a commercially more attractive way to manufacture nano-structured thermoelectric materials, increasing the chances for mass-production of thermoelectric energy. Their results were published in Nano Energy.

Four Veni grants for faculty 3mE

This week the Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Veni grant worth up to 250,000 euros to twelve TU Delft scientists. The grant provides the laureates with the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas during a period of three years.

How a guest lecturer enhances education

Many former students return to TU Delft later in their careers as guest lecturers. Anton Paardekooper graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 and has been a guest lecturer at 3mE for six years.