The main topic of the grant project is the study of thin films of hybrid composites based on carbon allotropes (especially C60) and transition (and noble) metals, their preparation, modification and characterization, and also the study of their biological properties (i.e., biotolerance, adhesion of bone-type cells, their growth, differentiation, etc.). The purpose is to develop novel hybrid materials with well-defined structures and interesting properties attractive for applications (e.g., for tissue engineering). For fabrication of the composites, suitable deposition techniques will be used; for characterization of the films an arsenal of analytical methods will be at our disposal. The preliminary experiments demonstrated an interesting aspect of the project – the possibility of preparing composite materials with regular structures at a (sub-) micron scale level either created due to spontaneous self-organization (induced by a certain deposition kinetics), or because of coordinated phase separation initiated by thermal annealing or irradiation with energy ion beams. The specific goal of this project is to shed more light on the onset, mechanisms and kinetics of the above-mentioned phenomena.

The aim of the project is development of new advanced cast multiphase gamma based TiAl-8Nb-X alloys alloyed with the graded carbon content (0.2 to 1 at. %), produced so far only by powder metallurgy. Sufficient thermo-mechanical stability of these alloys will be guaranteed by the lamellar structure strengthened by favorable distributed precipitates obtained using an optimized complex heat treatment. The main pertinent applications of the alloys suggested are turbocharger rotor or gas turbine blade in automotive and power industry, respectively, in which a decisive degradation mechanism represents creep-fatigue interaction at higher temperatures. The structure of new-developed cast alloys and its thermo-mechanical stability will be studied both in virgin state after optimized heat treatment and after high temperature creep-fatigue tests. Neutron diffraction (in-situ and post-mortem studies), TEM (transmission electron microscopy) and other modern experimental techniques will be used for the structure analysis and the study of damage mechanisms.

The aim of the submitted proposal is to get financial support for development of Monte Carlo methods for simulations of complex neutron optical systems, including their experimental validation and application to the research of dispersive multiple reflections of neutrons in elastically bent crystals. The new methods will be implemened in existing and well established software package RESTRAX, which has been developed at the NPI Řež. The results of experimental research of multiple Bragg reflections supported by Monte Carlo simulations will be employed in the development of high-resolution monochromators and analyzers. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is twofold: (a) Creation of an easy to use, validated and efficient software for modeling and optimization of neutron spectrometers employing advanced neutron optics elements and for data analysis; (b) Development and tests of dispersive multiple reflection monochromators suitable for ultra-high resolution measurements.

Main aim of the project is the characterization of the structures based on LiTaO3, single crystal SrTiO3, BaTiO3 and KTaO3 doped Pb, Mg materials using ion beam analysis. Crystalline structures investigated in this research are very promising for the preparation of planar lasers or are applicable in microelectronics - high permittivity materials. The dopant depth profiles, stoichiometry of crystalline structures will be measured by RBS, ERDA and PIXE.The positions of the interstitial dopants in doped crystals and the crystal modification under the used deposition technologies can be determined by the innovative analytical technique (RBS-channeling) and the crystal lattice changes will be studied by comparative method XRD in collaboration with Forschungzentrum Rossendorf. The important part will be the study of superlattice structures and their interfaces using RBS-channeling. The results of the above mentioned analyses will be confronted with properties of the prepared structures.