Materials research at TU Wien takes place under the umbrella of the research focal area Materials and Matter. This interdisciplinary area investigates the properties of different materials – right down to the very last layer of atoms. The findings are used in the creation of new, perhaps even futuristic technological applications. There are no limits to creativity: innovative materials for aircraft or construction, material properties which are revolutionising microelectronics, micro-structures inspired by nature and adapted for use in technology.

Understanding the properties of materials

Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age – we name entire historical epochs after the materials that were being worked at the time. What materials will define our lives in the future? TU Wien is achieving important pioneering work in many quite different research projects in the search for the materials of tomorrow.
Material science is an inter-disciplinary field – many research questions can only be answered if differing specialisms work together. At TU Wien there are highly successful cross-faculty research projects – for example the work on metal oxides, in the area where physics and chemistry intersect, and the light controlled production of micro-structures – in which research teams from mechanical engineering and chemistry are participating.

The small and the mighty

Material research is carried out at vastly differing scales. It is just as involved with the atomic properties of new types of nanostructures as it is with the strength of new building materials or special metals for cars or aircraft. Sometimes it is also essential to combine the microscopic and the macroscopic worlds in one research project. Macroscopic material properties can be explained at the micro level. Completely new and exotic material properties promise exciting technological applications. The phenomenon of superconductivity still presents us with unresolved questions. Fascinating new electromagnetic material properties play an important role in micro-electronics. In such fundamental research fields, material research is closely related to the research focal areas of Quantum Physics & Quantum Technologies and Computational Science & Engineering. Many of the best materials have already been discovered by nature – biomimetics, the imitation of ideas from nature for technological applications, plays an important role in material research. Micro structures on the skin of sharks optimise their hydrodynamic properties. Trees grow to a height of dozens of metres because their wood provides them with remarkable stability.

If we understand nature's tricks, we can copy them and ultimately extend their technological use way beyond the examples from nature.

  1. Surfaces and Interfaces   
  2. Materials Characterization   
  3. Metallic Materials   
  4. Non-metallic Materials   
  5. Composite Materials   
  6. Biological and Bioactive Materials   
  7. Special and Engineering Materials   
  8. Structure-Property-Relationship    

Continuous growth and impressive successes in highly funded research programmes – this is the positive outcome of the development of the research focal area Materials and Matter and the associated research fields. Several Clusters of Excellence projects deserve special mention here, as do a number of START grants and Special Research Programmes (SFBs) funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), numerous Christian Doppler Laboratories, and several ERC grants from the European Commission under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. Five of eight faculties at TU Wien are primarily represented, with around 65% of the institutes or 112 research groups conducting research in the field of materials science.

The volume of third-party funding acquired for research projects in Materials and Matter in the period 2022-2024 amounts to approximately EUR 30.3 million per year (more than 240 project starts in basic and applied research). The scientific output is reflected in around 880 publications and 791 presentations per year.    

Schematic representation of the distribution of the project volume according to the share of research types and share of faculties, the project volume in the research fields as well as the publications. The exact content of the graphic is incorporated in text form below.

Breakdown of project volume by share of research types and share of faculties, project volume in the individual research fields, and breakdown of publications

 

The research focal area Materials and Matter consists of 52% basic research, 33% applied research, and 15% experimental development.

The project volume is divided among the faculties as follows: 0.8% Mathematics and Geoinformation, 21.1% Physics, 43.7% Technical Chemistry, 9.2% Civil and Environmental Engineering, 0.2% Architecture and Planning, 16.0% Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and 9.0% Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.

The project volume in the individual research fields can be presented as follows: EUR 5.7 million in the research field Surfaces and Interfaces, EUR 5.7 million in the research field Materials Characterization, EUR 1.2 million in the research field Metallic Materials, EUR 1.7 million in the research field Non-metallic Materials, EUR 0.9 million in the research field Composite Materials, EUR 5.6 million in the research field Biological and Bioactive Materials, EUR 0.9 million in the research field Special and Engineering Materials and EUR 1.7 million in the research field Structure-Property Relationship.

All data and information provided relates to the research period 2022-2024 (based on the period of the Performance Agreement).