Isolation of atomic mechanisms – the choreographer at play

Harry Bhadeshia examines how atomic arrangements in metals change under deformation, magnetic or electric fields, heating, cooling and extreme events. These transformations can damage a material or create useful properties. Understanding the mechanism is therefore central to designing metallic materials.

The lecture contrasts coordinated atomic motion, which can visibly alter shape and strengthen or toughen a metal, with disordered motion and mixtures of both behaviours when atoms differ in size. It explains how researchers isolate and study these processes and use that knowledge to design materials with controlled properties.