Tomotaka Hatakeyama
Researcher, Creep Property Group, Materials Evaluation Field, Research Center for Structural Materials
Hobbies
Baseball (NIMS baseball team), Running
Positions, B/T
OF・P (TWP), L/R
Wish list
Time Kerchief (DORAEMON Gadgets)
C.V. (As of September 2024）
Bachelor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 2015
Doctor, Department of Materials Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 2020
Internship at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany), May 2018 - October 2018
ICYS Research fellow, International Center for Young Scientist, NIMS, April 2020 - March 2022 
Current position, April 2022 - Present 
Q＆A
Q：About my student days
A：I was a member of a high school baseball club. I have never experienced a harder time in my research career than my high school days, which forced me to do both tough baseball training and study. This period made me physically and mentally stronger.
Q：Please tell me about your research topic.
A：The motivation of my research is to improve the creep resistance of heat-resistant steels for the better efficiency of thermal power plants. I am pursuing the ideal microstructure by microstructure control through heat treatments or a 3D printing process.
Q：What is your policy for your research?
A：Be fascinated, and be creative.
Q：What is difficult about your research?
A：The time-consuming creep test usually takes hundreds of hours at a minimum, and ultimately, I want to perform a 100,000 h (=approximately 11.4 years) test. This is the rate-limiting process of my research.
Q：Why is such long-term testing required?
A：I think "creep" can be compared to a marathon in terms of the long-term, continuous loading. As muscular sprinters do not win in marathons, even if materials are thoroughly strengthened with high-density dislocations and fine precipitates, they are not necessarily creep resistant, due to the recovery of dislocations and coarsening of precipitates during long-term exposure at high temperature. The full marathon champion is never determined by a half marathon or shorter-distance race. Similarly, the determination of 100,000 h strength requires 100,000 h creep testing.
Q：What is the attraction of NIMS?
A：Being a NIMS researcher was more attractive for me than working in industry because it was an unique career among my lab mates. Different from the fixed-term research as a master or doctoral student, we can contribute to a long-term/large-scale project (e.g., creep testing for more than 10 years). Another attractive feature is the funding support for young researchers, which allows me to proceed research according to my own idea.
Q：Message for Ph.D. candidates
A：Please enjoy your research and strive toward a successful future. However, time without thinking about your research is also important for your sustainable research life.