The INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials names Martin Müser as its sixth INM Fellow. The professor of materials simulation is the first materials scientist at Saarland University with whom INM is cooperating more closely in this way. He uses simulations to investigate how to improve adhesive structures.
When two bodies touch, a wide variety of phenomena can occur at the point of contact, such as friction, wear, or adhesion. Martin Müser is an expert in contact mechanics and uses computers to simulate such processes. In cooperation with the INM program division Functional Microstructures, he will now get further to the bottom of adhesion. “Through his simulations, we want to gain a better understanding of what happens when the adhesive structures we develop touch down on surfaces and detach again,” explains Eduard Arzt, head of the group and scientific director of INM.
In addition to gaining knowledge, the cooperation is also aimed at practical benefits: A better understanding of the mechanisms should help predict the adhesion of the structures and optimize their material design. This aspect also drives Martin Müser: What he would otherwise only calculate theoretically on the computer can be brought into the laboratory through collaboration. “In this way, we not only contribute to a deeper understanding, but also to practical implementation – always an exciting aspect for me as a theoretician,” he emphasizes. His results could enable novel structures that adhere under more difficult conditions, such as rough surfaces, human skin, or underwater.
Background
As an INM Fellow, INM appoints selected scientists, especially from Saarland University, whose expertise complements that of the institute. The appointment is for three years and allows the INM Fellow to access the professional and technical know-how at INM. Martin Müser is the sixth INM Fellow.
Martin Müser has been Professor of Materials Simulation at Saarland University since 2009. After his diploma in experimental physics, he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in 1995. Postdoctoral stays took him to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and Columbia University, New York, (both USA) before he habilitated at the University of Mainz in 2002. In the same year, he accepted a professorship at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. From 2011-2016, he led a research group on computational materials physics at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Müser has been cooperating with INM for quite some time. He is currently involved in the MUSIGAND project, funded by the Leibniz Association, on the modeling of multifunctional microstructures for handling applications.
Your contact person
Prof. Dr. Martin Müser
Universität des Saarlandes
Lehrstuhl für Materialsimulation
Tel: 0681 302 57452
E-Mail: [email protected]