The conception of new alloys and material systems represents extremely complex tasks, that require profound experience in this field.

For this purpose, MCL's approach lies in coupling detailed microstructural investigations with testing of the relevant mechanical properties of existing materials to establish a fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships of the regarded material category. Based on these findings thermodynamic and kinetic simulations as well as tools developed in our research area "Atomistic Modelling" are applied to predict the properties of new material systems.

An example topic of our research work is the development and improvement of hard and extremely wear resistant tools. For the tools, our interest is focused on both the development of the substrate material as well as the development of suitable surface treatments and hard coatings.