In the last decade, Nano-materials have been gaining considerable interest for their various properties and applications. Particularly, designed nano-structured materials are largely characterized by their numerous internal interfaces. Since the quested physical properties of this material class are closely related to the thermal stability of their internal interfaces, the investigation of the chemical reactions at these interfaces is of a great importance to understand and optimize the desired properties for prospective future applications.

This lecture aims at showing by examples, what challenges such atom probe tomographers are able to solve when utilized to explore these nano-structured materials. Moreover, results obtained with the laser assisted wide angle tomographic atom probe LAWATAP and the local electrode atom probe LEAP HR4000, which are both newly installed in our laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) KSA, will be presented and compared in this study. A brief introduction of KAUST will be also communicated.

 

 

Profssor Al-Kassab's research focuses on experimental and theoretical investigations to reveal the link between the physical properties, such as hardness or magnetic behavior of a material and the arrangements of its constitutional different species at the atomic scale. In his experimental work, he utilizes ultra-high resolution analytical experimental methods, such as Transmission Electron Microscopy TEM and Atom Probe Tomography (APT).

His specific interest is directed toward topics including thermodynamics and phase separation in constitutional alloys and compounds, such as steels and superalloys; segregation effects along grain and interface boundaries particularly in nano-crystalline materials and thin film layers; internal oxidation and exploration of the metallic/nonmetallic (oxide, semiconductor) interface.

Since 04/2009   Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering KAUST, KSA

03/2004- 04/2009 PrivatDozent and Senior Research Fellow “C2” and Head of the research group “Phase Separation and Nanocrystals”at the InstitutfürMaterialphysik, Göttingen University/Germany.

10/97 - 02/2004  Senior Research Fellow at the InstitutfürMaterialphysik, Göttingen University

10/96- 09/97     Assistant Professor at the Physics Department, Faculty of Arts and Science, American University of Beirut, Beirut/Lebanon.

Postdoctoral Fellow of the “Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science JSPS”, at the High Voltage Electron Microscopy Lab., Kyushu University, Fukuoka , Japan, 1996.

Poste Rouge, Visiting- Professor of the French research society CNRS (Professor invité, Directeure de Recherche 2em Class) at the laboratory:"Lab. de MicroscopieIonique", Groupe de Physique des Matériaux - UMR 6634 CNRS, Faculté des Sciences, Rouen/ France, 2006/2007.