Research Mission

Materials technology has the potential to lead to breakthroughs in all other technological fields, and is thus a key pursuit. The Materials Science Research Laboratory pursues solutions to material technology issues relevant to electric utilities and other energy industries. The laboratory provides materials engineering solutions that not only enable the advanced operation of energy equipment, but also play an active role in general research and development of new materials.

Research Domains

Structural Materials Sector

Safe and long-term utilization of structures and components of power plants is a critical issue for economical and secure supply of electricity. This issue could only be addressed through an overall and integrated engineering by the combination of fundamental researches based on material mechanics, fracture mechanics, high-temperature material strength, metallurgical physics and non-destructive inspection, and the development of codes and standards supported by such research results. Structural Materials Sector is promoting researches on the technology development of structural integrity assessment and maintenance of the components used under extreme environments, such as high temperature and irradiation, of the fossil and nuclear power plants.

Electrochemistry Sector

Materials issues related to electrochemistry appear in many aspects of electric power industry. Corrosion of metals, water treatment of fossil power plants, water chemistry of nuclear power plants, lithium ion batteries, fuel cells, and hydrogen generation/storage are all based on a fundamental academic area of electrochemistry. The researchers in Electrochemistry Sector are extensively working on these research topics as well as the issues that happen in the power plants in close collaboration with the electric utilities.

Electronic Materials Sector

Semiconductor devices, such as power devices, solar cells, organic semiconductors, are not only essential for controlling current power systems and ensuring efficient energy usage but also expected as key technologies for the future high-efficiency and sustainable society. Electric Materials Sector focuses on materials researches to develop and evaluate semiconductor devices and equipment used in the electric power industry as well as to develop new functional devices, employing state-of-the-art material synthesis and analysis technologies combined with the basic science of condensed matter and crystal physics. The recent research targets include the sensor technology necessary for the remote monitoring systems of IoT.

PD Center

Qualification body in PD (performance demonstration) system of nondestructive testing for reliability improvement of nuclear power plants.