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 - TY - JOUR A1 - Serrano-Munoz, Itziar A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Trofimov, Anton A1 - Apel, D. A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Kromm, Arne A1 - Hesse, René A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - On the interplay of microstructure and residual stress in LPBF IN718 N2 - The relationship between residual stresses and microstructure associated with a laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) IN718 alloy has been investigated on specimens produced with three different scanning strategies (unidirectional Y-scan, 90° XY-scan, and 67° Rot-scan). Synchrotron X-ray energy-dispersive diffraction (EDXRD) combined with optical profilometry was used to study residual stress (RS) distribution and distortion upon removal of the specimens from the baseplate. The microstructural characterization of both the bulk and the nearsurface regions was conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). On the top surfaces of the specimens, the highest RS values are observed in the Y-scan specimen and the lowest in the Rot-scan specimen, while the tendency is inversed on the side lateral surfaces. A considerable amount of RS remains in the specimens after their removal from the baseplate, especially in the Y- and Z-direction (short specimen Dimension and building direction (BD), respectively). The distortion measured on the top surface following baseplate thinning and subsequent removal is mainly attributed to the amount of RS released in the build direction. Importantly, it is observed that the additive manufacturing microstructures challenge the use of classic theoretical models for the calculation of diffraction elastic constants (DEC) required for diffraction-based RS analysis. It is found that when the Reuß model is used for the calculation of RS for different crystal planes, as opposed to the conventionally used Kröner model, the results exhibit lower scatter. This is discussed in context of experimental measurements of DEC available in the literature for conventional and additively manufactured Ni-base alloys. KW - L-PBF IN718 material KW - Effect of scanning strategies KW - Near-surface X-ray diffraction KW - Residual stress in AM KW - Distortion upon baseplate removal PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-519460 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05553-y SN - 0022-2461 VL - 56 IS - 9 SP - 5845 EP - 5867 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-51946 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Serrano-Munoz, Itziar A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Kromm, Arne A1 - Hofmann, M. A1 - Wimpory, R. C. A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - Scanning Manufacturing Parameters Determining the Residual Stress State in LPBF IN718 Small Parts N2 - The influence of scan strategy on the residual stress (RS) state of an as-built IN718 alloy produced by means of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is investigated. Two scan vector rotations (90°-alternation and 67°-rotation), each produced following two different scan vector lengths (long and short), are used to manufacture four rectangular prisms. Neutron diffraction (ND) and laboratory X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques are used to map the bulk and surface RS state, respectively. The distortion induced upon removal from the baseplate is measured via profilometry. XRD measurements show that the two long scan vector strategies lead to higher RS when compared with the equivalent short scan vector strategies. Also, the 67°-rotation strategies generate lower RS than their 90°-alternation counterparts. Due to the lack of reliable stress-free d0 references, the ND results are analyzed using von Mises stress. In general, ND results show significant RS spatial non-uniformity. A comparison between ND and distortion results indicates that the RS component parallel to the building direction (Z-axis) has a predominant role in the Z-displacement. The use of a stress balance scheme allows to discuss the d0 variability along the length of the specimens, as well as examine the absolute RS state. KW - As-built LPBF IN718 alloy KW - Scan strategy influence KW - Neutron diffraction KW - Residual stress state KW - Stress balance condition KW - Distortion PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-526360 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202100158 VL - 23 IS - 7 SP - 158 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-52636 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Farahbod-Sternahl, L. A1 - Serrano-Munoz, Itziar A1 - Léonard, F. A1 - Haberland, C. A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - 3D Computed Tomography Quantifies the Dependence of Bulk Porosity, Surface Roughness, and Re-Entrant Features on Build Angle in Additively Manufactured IN625 Lattice Struts N2 - Layer-by-layer additive manufacturing (AM) by means of laser-powder bed Fusion (L-PBF) offers many prospects regarding the design of lattice structures used, for example, in gas turbines. However, defects such as bulk porosity, Surface roughness, and re-entrant features are exacerbated in nonvertical structures, such as tilted struts. The characterization and quantification of these kinds of defects are essential for the correct estimation of fracture and fatigue properties. Herein, cylindrical struts fabricated by L-PBF are investigated by means of X-ray computed tomography (XCT), with the aim of casting light on the dependence of the three kinds of defects (bulk porosity, surface roughness, and re-entrant features) on the build angle. Innovative analysis methods are proposed to correlate shape and position of pores, to determine the angular-resolved Surface roughness, and to quantify the amount of re-entrant surface features, q. A meshing of the XCT surface enables the correlation of q with the classical Surface roughness Pa. This analysis leads to the conclusion that there is a linear correlation between q and Pa. However, it is conjectured that there must be a threshold of surface roughness, below which no re-entrant features can be build. KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Laser powder bed fusion KW - Computed tomography KW - Surface roughness analysis KW - Re-entrant surface feature PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-534728 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202100689 IS - 2100689 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Wiley-VCH Verlag AN - OPUS4-53472 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Silvestroni, L. A1 - Kupsch, Andreas A1 - Müller, Bernd R. A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Wieder, Frank A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Sciti, D. A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - Determination of short carbon fiber orientation in zirconium diboride ceramic matrix composites N2 - In fiber-reinforced components, the fiber alignment and orientation have paramount influence on the thermomechanical properties of the resulting composite, for both short and continuous fiber. Here we present the case of an ultra-refractory matrix intended for extreme environment applications, ZrB2, reinforced with 20 vol% and 50 vol% short carbon fibers. In both cases, fibers tend to align perpendicular to the uniaxial pressure applied during shaping and sintering of a pellet, although the fiber tilt across the pellet thickness is difficult to determine. Moreover, for high volume fractions of reinforcement, the spatial distribution of the fibers is heterogeneous and tends to have domains of preferential orientations. We compare the information on the fiber distribution as collected by scanning electron microscopy images, X-ray computed tomography and synchrotron X-ray refraction radiography (SXRR). The three techniques prove to be complementary. Importantly, we demonstrate that SXRR yields the most statistically significant information due to the largest field of view, yet with a sensitivity down to the nanometer, and that can be successfully applied also to heavy matrix materials, such as zirconium boride. KW - Ceramic matrix composites KW - Synchrotron X-ray refraction radiography KW - X-ray computed tomography KW - Scanning electron microscopy KW - High-temperature ceramics PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-597712 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2024.02.048 SN - 0955-2219 VL - 44 IS - 8 SP - 4853 EP - 4862 PB - Elsevier Ltd. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-59771 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schröder, Jakob A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Luzin, Vladimir A1 - Ferrari, Bruno A1 - Simón-Muzás, Juan A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - Impact of scan strategy on principal stresses in laser powder bed fusion N2 - Additive manufacturing techniques, such as laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB), are well known for their exceptional freedom in part design. However, these techniques are also characterized by the development of large thermal gradients during production and thus residual stress (RS) formation in produced parts. In this context, neutron diffraction enables the non-destructive characterization of the bulk RS distribution. By control of the thermal gradients in the powder-bed plane by scan strategy variation we study the impact of in-process scan strategy variations on the microstructure and the three-dimensional distribution of RS. Microstructural analysis by means of electron backscatter diffraction reveals sharp microstructure transitions at the interfaces ranging from 100-200 µm. The components of the RS tensor are determined by means of neutron diffraction and the principal stress directions and magnitudes are determined by eigenvalue decomposition. We find that the distribution of RS in the powder-bed plane corresponds to the underlying scan strategy. When the alternating scan vectors align with the x- and y sample coordinate axes, the principal stress directions co-align. In the present geometry, nearly transverse isotropic stress states develop when the scan vectors are either aligned 45° between x and y or continuously rotated by 67° between each layer. KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Laser Powder Bed Fusion KW - Electron Backscatter Diffraction KW - Neutron Diffraction KW - Residual Stress KW - Principal Stress PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-607910 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2024.113171 SN - 0264-1275 VL - 244 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-60791 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bruno, Giovanni A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Serrano-Munoz, Itziar A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Sprengel, Maximilian A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Kromm, Arne A1 - Madia, Mauro ED - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - A Critical Discussion on the Diffraction-Based Experimental Determination of Residual Stress in AM Parts N2 - As opposed to reviewing results on experimental determination of residual stress by diffraction, this paper discusses the open issues when dealing with residual stress determination in additive manufactured parts, in particular those manufactured with laser powder bed fusion techniques. Three points are addressed in detail: (a) the proper determination of the strain-free reference d0, (b) the problem of the determination of the principal axes, and (c) the use of the correct diffraction elastic constants. It is shown that all methods to determine the strain-free reference d0 suffer from caveats, and care must be taken in evaluating the most suitable for the problem being tackled. In addition, it is shown that, in some systems, the principal axes do correspond to the geometrical axes of the specimen, but this needs to be systematically checked, especially in the case of uni- or bidirectional hatching strategies. Finally, the need to experimentally determine the proper diffraction elastic constants is underlined, especially in the case of strongly textured specimens, which again depends on the deposition strategy. T2 - ASTM ICAM 2020 – ASTM International Conference on Additive Manufacturing CY - Online meeting DA - 16.11.2020 KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Diffraction KW - Residual Stress PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1520/STP163120190148 VL - STP1631 SP - 122 EP - 138 PB - ASTM International CY - USA AN - OPUS4-51347 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schröder, Jakob A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Serrano-Munoz, Itziar A1 - Evans, Alexander A1 - Sprengel, Maximilian A1 - Klaus, M. A1 - Genzel, C. A1 - Schneider, J. A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - On the influence of heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical behavior of laser powder bed fused Inconel 718 N2 - A range of heat treatments have been developed for wrought Inconel 718 to obtain desired properties. For additively manufactured Inconel 718, the recently developed standard ASTM F3301 provides guidance for heat treatment of powder bed fusion specimens. Although this standard is based on standards developed for wrought Inconel 718, it does not include direct aging. Since direct aging reduces the number of processing steps, it can result in a post processing cost reduction if the desired properties are obtained. In this study, we characterized the microstructure and tensile behavior of Inconel 718 specimens produced by a laser powder bed fusion process. The specimens were heat treated according to two different routines after stress relieving: a full heat Treatment versus a one-step direct aging process. Differences in the resulting texture and grain morphology were observed. The ex-situ stress-strain behavior was broadly similar. However, a slight increase in yield strength was observed for the direct aged specimen. In order to understand this behavior, investigations with in-situ synchrotron Energy dispersive X-ray diffraction tensile testing revealed differences in the load partitioning among different Crystal directions. Importantly, the elastic anisotropy expressed by the magnitude of the diffraction elastic constants showed a dependency on the microstructures. KW - Electron microscopy KW - X-ray analysis KW - Inconel 718 KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Mechanical behavior KW - Diffraction elastic constants PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2020.140555 VL - 805 SP - 40555 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-52142 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pauzon, C. A1 - Mishurova, Tatiana A1 - Fischer, M. A1 - Ahlström, J. A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Bruno, Giovanni A1 - Hryha, Eduard T1 - Impact of contour scanning and helium-rich process gas on performances of Alloy 718 lattices produced by laser powder bed fusion N2 - Contour scanning and process gas type are process parameters typically considered achieving second order effects compared to first order factors such as laser power and scanning speed. The present work highlights that contour scanning is crucial to ensure geometrical accuracy and thereby the high performance under uniaxial compression of complex Alloy 718 lattice structures. Studies of X-ray computed tomography visualizations of as-built and compression-strained structures reveal the continuous and smooth bending and compression of the walls, and the earlier onset of internal contact appearance in the denser lattices printed with contour. In contrast, the effect of addition of He to the Ar process gas appears to have limited influence on the mechanical response of the lattices and their microstructure as characterized by electron backscattered diffraction. However, the addition of He proved to significantly enhance the cooling rate and to reduce the amount of the generated spatters as evidenced by in situ monitoring of the process emissions, which is very promising for the process stability and powder reusability during laser powder bed fusion. KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Laser powder bed fusion KW - Gyroid lattice KW - Process atmosphere PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-546632 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2022.110501 SN - 0264-1275 VL - 215 SP - 110501 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-54663 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chand, Keerthana A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Oster, Simon A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - Review on image registration methods for the quality control in additive manufacturing N2 - A critical challenge in Additive Manufacturing is to ensure the safety and dimensional accuracy of produced parts. Since quality control is made by means of different online and offline imaging techniques (e.g. Thermography, X-ray and Optical Computer Tomography), image registration plays an important role in addressing these challenges. This paper introduces the main motivation, challenges, and research gaps of image registration in Additive Manufacturing. Furthermore, it introduces the main transformations, registration methods, similarity matrices and accuracy measurement. The main aim of the paper is to present a comprehensive review on the available methods for image registration in Additive Manufacturing based on the measurement techniques. Various registration methods, including landmark-based, point cloud-based, image intensity-based, and shape-based techniques, are examined in their applications for quality control, defect detection, and distortion quantification. KW - Image processing KW - Image fusion KW - Computed tomography KW - Computer-aided design KW - Additive manufacturing PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-624495 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40964-024-00932-2 SN - 2363-9520 SP - 1 EP - 27 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-62449 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schröder, Jakob A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Ferrari, Bruno A1 - Altmann, Mika León A1 - Bruno, Giovanni A1 - Toenjes, Anastasiya T1 - Laser powder bed fusion: Defect type influences critical porosity re-growth during reheating after hot isostatic pressing N2 - Despite the remarkable product design flexibility offered by additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, such as laser powder bed fusion, AM processes are susceptible to the formation of defects. In this context, the control of process parameters and the application of post-processing treatments, such as hot isostatic pressing (HIP), are of paramount importance to achieve the desired mechanical properties. The present study investigates the effectiveness of HIP as a function of process parameters in laser powder bed fused Ti-6V-4Al (PBF-LB/Ti64) using X-ray computed tomography. The process parameters are modified to obtain reference samples with low porosity, lack of fusion defects, or keyhole porosity. In all instances, subsurface keyhole porosity was observed in the as-built parts. Moreover, it was found that the efficacy of pore closure is dependent on the specific defect type. In the case of low porosity and keyhole pores, HIP resulted in effective closure. Conversely, larger lack of fusion defects were not closed due to their interconnectivity and the entrapment of argon gas. Subsequent heat treatments above the β-transus temperature allowed the investigation of the impact of defect type on porosity re-growth. For the first time, we reveal that lack of fusion defects are affected by considerable pore re-growth during post-HIP heat treatments of PBF-LB/Ti64. Such phenomenon is driven by the increasing internal pore pressure and local creep deformation at high temperatures. In contrast, re-growth is limited in samples with low porosity or keyhole pores. KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Hot Isostatic Pressing KW - Titanium KW - Laser Powder Bed Fusion KW - X-ray Computed Tomography KW - Heat Treatment KW - Porosity PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-629289 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2025.118839 VL - 340 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-62928 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chand, Keerthana A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Oster, Simon A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Poka, Konstantin A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - A Comparative Study of Rigid Three-Dimensional Image Registration Methods for Powder Bed Fusion with Laser Beam of Metals Using a Gold Standard Approach N2 - In Additive Manufacturing (AM), precise rigid three-dimensional (3D) image registration between X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) scans and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models is an important step for the quantification of distortions in produced parts. Given the absence of standardized benchmarks for image registration in AM, we introduce a gold standard for 3D image registration, using a reference base plate beneath the build structure. This gold standard is used to quantify the accuracy of rigid registration, with a proof of concept demonstrated in PBF-LB/M. In this study, we conduct a comparative analysis of various rigid 3D registration methods useful for quality assurance of PBF-LB/M parts including feature-based, intensity-based, and point cloud-based approaches. The performance of each registration method is evaluated using measures of alignment accuracy based on the gold standard and computational efficiency. Our results indicate significant differences in the efficacy of these methods, with point cloud based Coherent Point Drift (CPD) showing superior performance in both alignment and computational efficiency. The rigidly registered 3D volumes are used to estimate the deformation field of the printed parts relative to the nominal CAD design using Digital Volume Correlation (DVC). The quality of the estimated deformation field is assessed using the Dice score metric. This study provides insights into methods for enhancing the precision and reliability of AM process. KW - Digital volume correlation KW - 3D image registration KW - 3D image processing KW - X-ray computed tomography KW - Computer-aided design KW - Displacement field estimation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-627043 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-025-01174-0 SN - 1573-4862 VL - 44 IS - 30 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-62704 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schröder, Jakob A1 - Han, Ying A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Hejazi, Bardia A1 - Ulbricht, Alexander A1 - Skrotzki, Birgit A1 - Bruno, Giovanni T1 - X-ray computed tomography quantifies primary phases and reveals crack morphology in high-cycle fatigue of aluminum alloy EN AW-2618A N2 - Since the introduction of high-strength aluminum alloys understanding their fatigue behavior is of high interest for the structural integrity of engineering components, in this context, the alloy EN AW-2618A gains its high strength from both nanometer size precipitates and micrometer size primary phases. The latter phases are often identified as crack initiation sites. In this study, it uses a combination of synchrotron and laboratory-based X-ray computed tomography to image and quantify such primary phases and the fatigue cracks appearing in interrupted tests. Based on the gray-level differences in the synchrotron X-ray computed tomography scans, this study is able to distinguish low- and high-absorbing particles. The dominant (volume fraction >99%) high absorbing primary phase can be quantified in good agreement with results of Thermo-Calc calculations. To image the fatigue crack, laboratory X-ray computed tomography scans are performed at different tensile loads to open the crack. The results show that with an appropriate crack opening tensile load, the fatigue crack morphology can be reliably revealed. Based on these results, the influence of the primary phases on the fatigue crack initiation and propagation are discussed. KW - X-ray computed tomography KW - Fatigue KW - Aluminum KW - Primary phases PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-632724 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202500235 SN - 1527-2648 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-63272 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -