Topsector NWO HTSM grant of EUR 600.000 for dr. Francesco Maresca

Dr. Francesco Maresca who recently started as tenure-track assistant professor in Mechanics and Materials Engineering at the ENTEG-institute received a Topsector NWO HTSM grant worth EUR 600.000 for his proposal “Next-generation coatings for advanced wear-resistant materials (Next-Coat)”. Collaborators in the project are the Eindhoven University of Technology (Prof. dr. Johan Hoefnagels), 3 companies (Tata Steel Europe, SKF and Wuppermann Staal Nederland) and the Materials Innovation Institute M2i.

The project aims at unravelling the influence of chemistry and microstructure on the key mechanical properties of anticorrosive coatings, such as the strength, the ductility and the wear-resistance. The producers of these materials can tune the chemistry and microstructure, however with limited understanding of what controls these properties. The researchers will address this question by an integrated multi-scale experimental-modeling approach, considering (i) the role played by chemistry on the nanoscale mechanisms such as dislocation plasticity and failure, and (ii) the influence of the microstructure, including the grain boundaries, on the plasticity and failure of polycrystalline coatings.

The Maresca group will focus on the investigation of the multi-scale modelling of plasticity and fracture as a function of chemistry by the use of Molecular Dynamics modelling based on state-of-the-art Density-Functional-Theory-accurate interatomic potentials, and continuum Crystal Plasticity modelling for microstructural analysis and design.

NWO HTSM 2019
The call HTSM of NWO domain TTW is a result of the Dutch topsector policy. Researchers are challenged together with companies to develop knowledge for technological breakthroughs and innovative applications. The call HTSM 2019 aimed to encourage excellent fundamental and application-oriented research in the area of high-tech systems and materials in the Netherlands, in order to strengthen the Netherlands' competitive position in this area internationally.