TY - JOUR A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Kurpiers, J. A1 - Roland, S. A1 - Tokmoldin, N. A1 - Shoaee, S. A1 - Ferron, T. A1 - Collins, B. A. A1 - Janietz, S. A1 - Vandewal, K. A1 - Fritsch, D. T1 - On the Interplay between CT and Singlet Exciton Emission in Organic Solar Cells with Small Driving Force and Its Impact on Voltage Loss N2 - The interplay between free charge carriers, charge transfer (CT) states and singlet excitons (S1) determines the recombination pathway and the resulting open circuit voltage (VOC) of organic solar cells. By combining a well-aggregated low bandgap polymer with different blend ratios of the fullerenes PCBM and ICBA, the energy of the CT state (ECT) is varied by 130 meV while leaving the S1 energy of the polymer (ES1) unaffected. It is found that the polymer exciton dominates the radiative properties of the blend when ECT approaches ES1, while the VOC remains limited by the non-radiative decay of the CT state. It is concluded that an increasing strength of the exciton in the optical spectra of organic solar cells will generally decrease the non-radiative voltage loss because it lowers the radiative VOC limit (VOC,rad), but not because it is more emissive. The analysis further suggests that electronic coupling between the CT state and the S1 will not improve the VOC, but rather reduce the VOC,rad. It is anticipated that only at very low CT state absorption combined with a fairly high CT radiative efficiency the solar cell benefit from the radiative properties of the singlet excitons. KW - Organic Solar Cell KW - Open Circuit Voltage KW - Voltage Loss KW - Ternary PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-552518 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202200641 SN - 1614-6832 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-55251 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Skłodowska, Anna A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Stamm, Michael A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Johann, Sergej A1 - Sturm, Patrick A1 - Kühne, Hans-Carsten A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Multi–sensory Monitoring and Non–destructive Testing of New Materials for Concrete Engineered Barrier Systems N2 - The crucial part of nuclear waste storage is the construction of sealing structures made of reliable, safe and well–understood materials. We present an extended analysis of long-term multi–sensory monitoring and non–destructive testing (NDT) inspection of two laboratory specimens aiming at potential materials for sealing structures for nuclear waste repositories. Specimens with a volume of 340 litres made from newly developed alkali–activated materials (AAM) and established salt concrete (SC) were analysed using embedded acoustic emission and wireless radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors, ultrasonic echo imaging, active thermography, and X–ray computed tomography. The monitoring analysis showed lower heat of reaction and 50% less acoustic emission events in AAM compared to SC. However, due to the surface effects of the AAM material, the number of acoustic emission events increased significantly after approximately two months of monitoring. Subsequently performed NDT inspections reliably located embedded sensors and confirmed the absence of major cracks or impurities. The presented laboratory results show the feasibility and potential of comprehensive NDT monitoring and inspection to characterise cementitious and alternative materials as well as the need for multi–parameter long–term monitoring. Thus, our study demonstrates that tailored NDT investigations will help to develop safe sealing structures for nuclear waste repositories. KW - Radioactive waste KW - Barrier KW - Concrete KW - AAM KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.3151/jact.22.516 SN - 1347-3913 VL - 22 IS - 9 SP - 516 EP - 529 PB - Japan Concrete Institute AN - OPUS4-61461 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Richter, Tim A1 - Giese, Marcel A1 - Rhode, Michael A1 - Schröpfer, Dirk A1 - Michael, Thomas A1 - Fritsch, Tobias T1 - Influence of Surface Preparation on Cracking Phenomena in TIG-Welded High and Medium Entropy Alloys N2 - Multi-element systems with defined entropy (HEA—high entropy alloy or MEA—medium entropy alloy) are rather new material concepts that are becoming increasingly important in materials research and development. Some HEA systems show significantly improved properties or combinations of properties, e.g., the overcoming of the trade-off between high strength and ductility. Thus, the synthesis, the resulting microstructures, and properties of HEA have been primarily investigated so far. In addition, processing is crucial to achieve a transfer of potential HEA/MEA materials to real applications, e.g., highly stressed components. Since fusion welding is the most important joining process for metals, it is of vital importance to investigate the weldability of these materials. However, this has rarely been the subject of research to date. For that reason, in this work, the weldability depending on the surface preparation of a CoCrFeMnNi HEA and a CoCrNi MEA for TIG welding is investigated. The fusion welding of longer plates is described here for the first time for the CoCrNi alloy. The welds of both materials showed distinct formation of cracks in the heat affected Zone (HAZ). Optical and scanning electron microscopy analysis clearly confirmed an intergranular fracture topography. However, based on the results, the crack mechanism cannot be conclusively identified as either a liquid metal embrittlement (LME) or hot cracking-like liquid film separation. T2 - 2nd International Conference on Advanced Joining Processes CY - Sintra, Portugal DA - 21.10.2021 KW - TIG welding KW - Cracking KW - High entropy alloy KW - Medium entropy alloy KW - Surface preparation PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-541697 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/jmmp6010005 SN - 2504-4494 VL - 6 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - MDPI CY - Basel (CH) AN - OPUS4-54169 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bruno, Giovanni A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Schröder, Jakob A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Serrano-Munoz, Itziar T1 - How to experimentally determine residual stress in AM structures N2 - The experimental determination of residual stress becomes more complicated with increasing complexity of the structures investigated. Unlike the conventional and most of the additive manufacturing (AM) fabrication techniques, laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) allows the production of complex structures without any additional manufacturing step. However, due to the extremely localized melting and solidification, internal stress-induced deformation and cracks are often observed. In the best case, significant residual stress is retained in the final structures as a footprint of the internal stress during manufacturing. Here we report solutions to the most prevalent challenges when dealing with the diffraction-based determination of residual stress in AM structures, in particular the choice of the correct diffraction elastic constants. We show that for Nickel-based alloys, the diffraction elastic constants of AM material significantly deviate from their conventional counterparts. Furthermore, measurement strategies to overcome the hurdles appearing when applying diffraction-based techniques to complex-shaped lattice structures are presented: a) proper sample alignment within the beam, b) the proper determination of the residual stress field in a representative part of the structure (i.e., with an engineering meaning). Beyond the principal stress magnitude, the principal direcions of residual stress are discussed for different geometries and scan strategies, as they are relevent for failure criteria. We show that the RS in the lattice struts can be considered to be uniaxial and to follow the orientation of the strut, while the RS in the lattice knots is more hydrostatic. Additionally, we show that strain measurements in at least seven independent directions are necessary for the correct estimation of the principal stress directions. The measurement directions should be chosen according to the sample geometry and to an informed choice on the possible strain field (i.e., reflecting the scan strategy). We finally show that if the most prominent direction is not measured, the error in the calculated stress magnitude increases in such a manner that no reliable assessment of RS state can be made. T2 - Additive 2024 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 12.06.2024 KW - Neutron Diffraction KW - Residual Stress KW - X-ray Computed Tomography KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Lattice Structure KW - Inconel PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60423 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Fritsch, Tobias T1 - 3D Analysis of Powder for Laser Beam Melting by Synchrotron X-ray CT N2 - Additive Manufacturing (AM) in terms of laser powder-bed fusion (L-PBF) offers new prospects regarding the design of parts and enables therefore the production of complex structures. The quality of the feedstock material receives increasing attention, as it depicts the first part of the L-PBF process chain. The powder quality control in terms of flowability and powder bed packing density is therefore mandatory. In this work, a workflow for quantitative 3D powder analysis in terms of particle size, particle shape, particle porosity, inter-particle distance and packing density was established. Synchrotron computed tomography (CT) was used to correlate the packing density with the particle size and particle shape for three different powder batches. The polydisperse particle size distribution (PSD) was transformed into a statistically equivalent bidisperse PSD. The ratio of the small and large particles helped to understand the powder particle packing density. While the particle shape had a neglectable influence, the particle size distribution was identified as major contributor for the packing density. T2 - AM- Workshop BAM CY - Online meeting DA - 20.04.2021 KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Laser powder bed fusion KW - Powder KW - Particle size distribution KW - Packing density PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53477 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lorenzoni, Renata A1 - Mezhov, Alexander A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Schmidt, Wolfram A1 - Kruschwitz, Sabine T1 - Effect of Biochar on the Microstructure and Mechanical Response of Cement Paste N2 - The use of biochar as a supplementary cementitious material is proposed to reduce the global greenhouse gas emissions. Since biochar is non-reactive, has a low density and complex porosity, its incorporation into cementitious materials results in microstructural changes and consequently affects the mechanical response. This work advances the mechanical response understanding of Portland cement composites with 0, 5, and 25 volume percent (vol%) of cement replaced with biochar by using in-situ computed tomography, correlating with the microstructural changes analyzed by HFC, gas sorption, MIP, gas sorption, and NMR. The results highlight the influence of the mesoscale structure on mechanical responses and relate the lack of loss of mechanical strength at 5 vol% replacement to the compensation of decreasing larger pores with biochar addition. At 25 vol% replacement, the amount of weakened zones in the paste due to biochar overcompensates the positive effect of the reduction in larger pores, resulting in a loss of mechanical properties. Hence, small amounts of biochar can enhance the microstructure, but the reduction of the carbon footprint is limited. T2 - 24th International Conference on Composite Materials (ICCM24) CY - Baltimore, Maryland, USA DA - 04.08.2024 KW - Supplementary cementitious materials KW - Biochar KW - Microstructure KW - In-situ computed tomography KW - Mechanical proprieties. PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.14359/51742027 VL - 362 SP - 1020 EP - 1032 PB - International Concrete Abstracts Portal AN - OPUS4-62115 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lorenzoni, Renata A1 - Cunningham, Patrick A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Schmidt, Wolfram A1 - Kruschwitz, Sabine A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - Microstructure analysis of cement‑biochar composites N2 - The use of biochar as a concrete constituent has been proposed to reduce the massive carbon footprint of concrete. Due to the low density and complex porosity of biochar, microstructural analysis of Portland cement-biochar composites is challenging. This causes challenges to the improvement of the micro-scale understanding of biochar composite behavior. This work advances the microstructural understanding of Portland cement composites with 0, 5, and 25 volume percent (vol%) of cement replaced with wood biochar by applying common characterization techniques of mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), gas sorption, scanning electron microscopy, and isothermal heat flow calorimetry (HFC) in conjunction with 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and micro-X-ray computed tomography (XCT) analysis techniques. The combination of these techniques allows a multi-scale investigation of the effect of biochar on the microstructure of cement paste. NMR and XCT techniques allow the observation and quantification of the pore space. HFC and MIP confirmed that biochar absorbs moisture and reduces the effective water-cement ratio. Gas sorption, MIP, and NMR shows that 5 vol% replacement does not significantly affect the gel and capillary pore structures. Results from XCT (supported by MIP and NMR) show that biochar can reduce the formation of larger pores. Importantly, XCT results suggest that biochar can act as a flaw in the microstructure which could explain reductions in the mechanical properties. Overall, the mechanical properties already analyzed in the literature are consistent with the microstructural changes observed, and these results highlight the need to carefully tailor the volume fraction of biochar to control its effect on the paste microstructure. KW - Cementitious materials KW - Biochar KW - Microstructure KW - Porosity KW - Pore size distribution PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-610900 DO - https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-024-02452-5 VL - 57 SP - 16 EP - 175 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-61090 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lorenzoni, Renata A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Kruschwitz, Sabine A1 - Bruno, Giovanni A1 - Schmidt, Wolfram T1 - Mechanical analysis of cement-biochar composites using in-situ X-ray microtomography and digital volume correlation N2 - This study addresses biochar as a potential carbon-sequestering filler in cement and examines its effect on mechanical properties using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) and digital volume correlation (DVC). DVC was reliably used to measure global displacement and has proven to be an effective method for correcting displacement data obtained from mechanical tests conducted without traditional instrumentation, such as extensometer. This made it possible to measure strain and Young’s modulus accurately. The results demonstrate that while 5 vol% biochar replacement had minimal effect on mechanical properties, a 25 vol% biochar replacement caused a 35 % reduction in Young’s modulus and 40 % reduction in the ultimate compressive strength. Additionally, DVC detected strain concentrations and predicted material failure locations even when cracks could not be quantified using XCT alone. Moreover, the study reveals that biochar particles, due to their sharp geometry, increase internal shear strain during uniaxial compression, unlike round phases such as pores. KW - Cementitious materials KW - Biochar KW - Mechanical proprieties KW - In-situ X-ray microtomography KW - Digital volume correlation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-638065 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2025.142511 SN - 1879-0526 VL - 490 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-63806 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tiwari, Jitendar Kumar A1 - Malladi, Bala A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Nyborg, Lars A1 - Cao, Yu T1 - Influence of contour parameters on the surface roughness of fine channels produced by powder bed fusion-laser beam N2 - Surface roughness strongly influences the performance of fine internal channels in additively manufactured components. This study investigates how contour process parameters affect the surface finish of 1 mm-diameter channels produced by powder bed fusion–laser beam (PBF-LB). Five contour parameter sets with progressively increasing laser energy density (LED) were applied, while keeping infill parameters constant. Surface roughness was evaluated using surface profilometry, X-ray computed tomography (XCT), and optical microscopy (OM). Profilometry and OM provided localized measurements, whereas XCT captured full-channel roughness along the build direction. Results show that increasing LED initially reduces surface roughness due to improved melting and removal of partially fused particles, reaching optimal smoothness at an intermediate LED. Further LED increase causes roughness to rise again, attributed to balling and dross formation. Optical cross-sections depicted these trends, and XCT measurements closely matched profilometry data. The findings in this study highlight a trade-off between surface quality and dimensional accuracy, as higher LEDs improve smoothness but reduce channel diameter. This work establishes an optimal contour LED range for minimizing as-built surface roughness in fine internal channels, which can enhance the functional performance of PBF-LB components in aerospace, medical, and energy applications. KW - Additive manufacturing KW - PBF-LB KW - Surface roughness KW - Computed tomography KW - Optical tomography PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-655677 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2026.115085 SN - 0042-207X VL - 246 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Niederlande AN - OPUS4-65567 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oster, Simon A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Bruno, Giovanni A1 - Maierhofer, Christiane A1 - Altenburg, Simon T1 - On the Registration of Thermographic In Situ Monitoring Data and Computed Tomography Reference Data in the Scope of Defect Prediction in Laser Powder Bed Fusion N2 - The detection of internal irregularities is crucial for quality assessment in metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) technologies such as laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF). The utilization of in-process thermography as an in situ monitoring tool in combination with post-process X-ray micro computed tomography (XCT) as a reference technique has shown great potential for this aim. Due to the small irregularity dimensions, a precise registration of the datasets is necessary as a requirement for correlation. In this study, the registration of thermography and XCT reference datasets of a cylindric specimen containing keyhole pores is carried out for the development of a porosity prediction model. The considered datasets show variations in shape, data type and dimensionality, especially due to shrinkage and material elevation effects present in the manufactured part. Since the resulting deformations are challenging for registration, a novel preprocessing methodology is introduced that involves an adaptive volume adjustment algorithm which is based on the porosity distribution in the specimen. Thus, the implementation of a simple three-dimensional image-to-image registration is enabled. The results demonstrate the influence of the part deformation on the resulting porosity location and the importance of registration in terms of irregularity prediction. KW - Selective laser melting (SLM) KW - Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) KW - Additive manufacturing (AM) KW - Process monitoring KW - Infrared thermography KW - X-ray computed tomography (XCT) KW - Defect detection KW - Image registration PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-549412 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/met12060947 VL - 12 IS - 6 SP - 1 EP - 21 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-54941 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Sprengel, Maximilian A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Farahbod-Sternahl, L. A1 - Saliwan Neumann, Romeo A1 - Hofmann, M. A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - On the determination of residual stresses in additively manufactured lattice structures N2 - The determination of residual stresses becomes more complicated with increasing complexity of the structures investigated. Additive manufacturing techniques generally allow the production of ‘lattice structures’ without any additional manufacturing step. These lattice structures consist of thin struts and are thus susceptible to internal stress-induced distortion and even cracks. In most cases, internal stresses remain locked in the structures as residual stress. The determination of the residual stress in lattice structures through nondestructive neutron diffraction is described in this work. It is shown how two difficulties can be overcome: (a) the correct alignment of the lattice structures within the neutron beam and (b) the correct determination of the residual stress field in a representative part of the structure. The magnitude and the direction of residual stress are discussed. The residual stress in the strut was found to be uniaxial and to follow the orientation of the strut, while the residual stress in the knots was more hydrostatic. Additionally, it is shown that strain measurements in at least seven independent directions are necessary for the estimation of the principal stress directions. The measurement directions should be chosen according to the sample geometry and an informed choice on the possible strain field. If the most prominent direction is not measured, the error in the calculated stress magnitude increases considerably. KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Laser powder bed fusion KW - Residual stress KW - Principal stress components KW - Neutron diffraction KW - Lattice structures PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-520663 DO - https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576720015344 SN - 1600-5767 VL - 54 SP - 228 EP - 236 AN - OPUS4-52066 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -