Controlling strength to create immortal materials

Hiroyuki Hirakata

Graduate School of Engineering

Throughout history, humanity has suffered significant losses from unforeseen failures every time we create innovative products. To prevent this, it is crucial to fully understand the strength of our materials and design products that leverage their characteristics. However, we lack deep understanding of and control over how material strength is determined. My research focuses on how irradiating materials with electrons or light and injecting surplus electrons can drastically alter their properties. For example, a brittle material like glass can become as malleable as metal through electron injection. Through this research, I aim to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms that change material strength and develop “immortal materials” that can withstand various forms of damage, contributing to a sustainable society.