Department Faculty

 

Yunzhi Wang

Professor

Ph.D. Rutgers University, 1995

Tel. (614) 292-0682

Wang.363@osu.edu

  • 2001 and 2006 LumleyResearch Award
  • NSF CAREERAward (1997)
  • Hsun Lee Research Award, Chinese Academy of Science (2006)
  • KC Wong Research Award, K.C.Wong Education Foundation, Hong Kong (2005)

 

Professor Wang received his M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1995) in Materials Science and Engineering from Rutgers University. He joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1996 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and Professor in 2005. His primary research interests are in the field of theoretical modeling and computer simulation of microstructural evolution in multi-component, multi-phase and polycrystalline materials. Significant cost savings can be realized in alloy design and processing by using computer modeling, reducing the amount of experimental effort necessary. Prof. Wang and his group are at the forefront in developing phase field theory and computer simulation techniques at multiple length and time scales and through collaborations they apply multi-scale modeling to specific materials systems and problems. Current research projects include

·         Energetics and kinetics of elementary defects and defect processes

·         Microstructure development during structural phase transformations and microstructure–dislocation interactions during exposure to temperature and stress in advanced structural materials including high-temperature Ni-base superalloys, light alloys, shape memory alloys and high strength steels.

·         Interdiffusion microstructure and diffusion path in multi-component and multiphase coatings and multi-layers

·         Grain growth and texture development in multiphase and polycrystalline materials and migration of interfaces and dislocations with segregating impurities and precipitates

·         Phase separation and pattern formation in fluids with coupled diffusion and flow processes.

Prof. Wang’s research is part of a greater effort in developing microstructure- and micromechanism-based modeling tools by integrating advanced materials characterization and computer simulation at the Centre for Accelerated Maturation of Materials (CAMM) at OSU.

Publications

Research Project Highlights

·         Integration of phase field method with ab inito calculations of generalized stacking fault (GSF) energy and multi-plane GSF (MGSF). This work has led to the development of the microscopic phase field model (MPF) of nano-mechanics, which has opened a new avenue for the study of elementary defects and defect processes such as core energy, structure and Peierls stress of dislocations and transformation dislocations, and slip transmission of dislocations across interphase interfaces.

·         Application of transition pathway search algorithms such as the nudged elastic band (NEB) method to ab initio informed MPF Hamiltonian for quantitative characterization of activation pathway (activation energy of nucleation and critical configuration of nucleus) of various elementary defect processes involved in solid-state phase transformations and plastic deformation. These are critical parameters for quantitative description of materials processes but difficult to obtain by experiment alone.

·         Application of phase field method at mesoscale to examine the collective behaviour of mutually interacting defects of arbitrary configurations in both elastically anisotropic and inhomogeneous systems.  

·         Integration of phase field method with CALPHAD thermodynamic and mobility databases, which has allowed for the development of phase field methods into engineering design tools (including fast-acting-models) for practical industrial applications.

·         Development and application of phase field models for interdiffusion microstructure in high-temperature coatings and oxidation resistant alloys.

·         Development and applications of phase field models for texture development and grain growth in polycrystalline materials.

·         Theory and simulation of impurity segregation and transition at grain boundaries and dislocations. The work for the first time formulated a complete continuum segregation model based on gradient thermodynamics and contrasted the model to preexisting continuum and discrete models.

·         Coupling hydrodynamic motion and atomic diffusion to study phase separation and patter formation in liquid and polymer systems.

 

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