Developing lightweight structural materials is a key engineering issue to contribute for an energy-saving society, and we work on desinging novel Mg as well as Al alloys. In particular, the properties of these alloys are extremely sensitive to their microstructural features, including atomic clustering and/or precipitates at nanometer-scale. In our laboratory, we study the microstructure of materials using advanced electron microscopy, by which we are able to detect even a single atom in solution in the alloys. Understanding microscopic origins of materials’ properties will lead to established concept of the structure-property relationships, including a long-standing question why adding just a few at.% dopant can remarkably improve the alloy properties. Our current interests are in long-period stacking/order (LPSO) Mg alloys, age-hardening Al alloys, complex-structured alloys and their applications as energy-related materials. We also attempt a novel STEM imaging to enhance the visibility of atoms for further precise analysis.

K. Yamashita, T. Itoi, M. Yamasaki, Y. Kawamura and E. Abe:
“A novel long-period stacking/order structure in Mg-Ni-Y alloys”,
J. Alloys and Compounds 788 (2019) 277-282.
T. Yamada, T. Kojima, E. Abe, S. Kameoka, P. Gille and A. P. Tsai:
“Probing Single Pt Atoms in Complex Intermetallic Al13Fe4”,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140 (2018) 3838-3841.
N. Fujita et al.,
“The structure of a novel long-period superlattice phase in Mg97Zn1Yb2 alloys”,
Scripta Mater. 150 (2018) 78-81.