Research Objective

In the first two funding periods, the Collaborative Research Center has developed a detailed understanding of fatigue processes in model systems. The objective in the third and concluding funding period is the transfer of these results to systems that are immediately available to industrial production and technical applications. The shift in the objective is emphasized by the creation of two transfer projects with industry partners, focusing on the fatigue of batteries and the reliability of multilayer actuators, respectively. Additionally, the new emphasis is also implemented in the separate projects.

The role of local defects, especially of charged defect centers in the bulk or at interfaces, has been identified as critical for fatigue processes. In the third funding period, the ‘Characterization’ part of the Center will be strengthened by spectroscopic methods to investigate the dynamics of processes involving defects. The integration of micro- and macroscale will be further pursued by the groups focusing on ‘Modeling’. The new materials that have been developed in the previous periods will be tested for their reliability under application conditions. The systematic comparison between experimental and theoretical results that has been a hallmark of the Center from the beginning will be employed to implement strategies for the production of improved materials, devices and systems.