Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

Department of Metals


Department activities

The activity of the department is primarily focused on the development, preparation and characterization of advanced metallic materials prospective for modern applications:

  • Bulk metallic materials with ultra-fine-grained and nanocrystalline structure, which exhibit extraordinary mechanical properties;
  • Intermetallic alloys with high strength at enhanced temperatures;
  • Grain boundary engineering;
  • Oriented mono-, bi-, and tricrystals.

Prepared materials with optimized structure are further analyzed on various scales ranging from atomic up to microscopic ones using the most modern methods of electron, ion and light microscopies, X–ray diffraction techniques and mechanical testing. The results are interpreted by means of theoretical models and computer simulations.


The Department consists of two mutually cooperating groups:

  • Group of advanced materials, which is interested in preparation of metallic materials with defined structures, their characterization, investigation of their physical properties and data interpretation; and
  • Group of X–ray investigation, which is concentrated in the Institute laboratory ROTAN and provides structural analysis of materials using intensive X–ray source with rotating anode.

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