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Structural Materials Evaluation Lab
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The lab uses X-rays to look inside structural materials and uncover why they break.
AboutAbout the lab
Pinning down exactly why things break.
The Structural Materials Evaluation Lab studies why structural materials used in aircraft, Shinkansen trains, automobiles, rockets, and similar applications break.
The lab combines 3D/4D imaging at the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility, computational science from the atomic scale to the macroscale, and the evaluation of strength in a variety of materials.
The materials it handles are centered on metals, and also include ceramics, polymers, and composite materials.
By revealing how materials actually fail, the lab aims to contribute to the development of new structural materials and to guidelines for appropriate design.
Key terms
- 3D/4D imaging
- An observation method that captures the inside of a material in three dimensions (3D) and tracks how it changes over time (4D = 3D + time)
- Hydrogen embrittlement
- A phenomenon in which hydrogen that has entered a metal makes the material brittle and more likely to fracture
- Stress corrosion cracking
- A phenomenon in which corrosion progresses while a material is under stress, causing it to crack and break
- SPring-8
- A large synchrotron radiation facility in Hyogo Prefecture. Its extremely bright X-rays make it possible to examine the inside of objects in detail
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Encouragement Award in the Student Poster Session at the 192nd Autumn Meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan
A master's student received the Excellent Poster Presentation Award at the 150th Spring Meeting of the Japan Institute of Light Metals
A paper by Prof. Toda received the 73rd Paper Award (Industrial Materials category) of the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials
A paper was published in International Journal of Fatigue
A master's student received the 2025 Rising Star Award of the Japan Institute of Light Metals
ResearchResearch themes
The lab seeks to understand how structural materials deform and break, from the nano level to the macro level. Based on this understanding, it works on developing new materials and optimizing strength design.
*Illustrative imagePreventing fracture caused by hydrogen and corrosion
The lab studies hydrogen embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking that occur in aluminum alloys for aircraft, nickel-based superalloys for rockets, steels, and other materials. It applies the results to developing materials with microstructures that resist such fracture and to optimizing strength design.
*Illustrative imageLooking inside materials with X-ray CT
The lab uses X-ray CT, which is used in medicine, to analyze structural materials. Using the bright X-rays of SPring-8, it takes tomographic images of metals and examines the strain distribution inside a material during deformation, and how the locations where fracture occurs had deformed before breaking.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Structural Materials Evaluation Lab are faculty, research fellows, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and administrative secretaries.As of 2026
- ProfessorHiroyuki Toda
- Associate ProfessorOsamu Takakuwa
- Assistant ProfessorHiro Fujihara
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “TiAl duplex” Lne / CC0 (cropped)
- Preventing fracture caused by hydrogen and corrosion: “Stress-Corrosion-Cracking-caused-by-weld-stress-01” CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Looking inside materials with X-ray CT: “Industrial Computed Tomography - Failures - Void” Jgarant / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (固体力学研究室): “Tensile testing on a coir composite” Kerina yin / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (マイクロメカニクス): “L-R, front to back - Inconel nickel-copper; Beryllium-copper (no-spark tools); steel; magnesium; aluminum; titanium” Bill Abbott / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (水素機能材料学研究室): “TotalEnergies hydrogen station in Magdeburg” Michał Beim / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (材料加工学研究室): “Iron powder” Anonimski / CC0 (cropped)
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