Zhongyuan graduated! Many Congratulations, Dr. Zhongyuan Li!!!

 

 

 

Zhongyuan successfully finished his PhD defense on May 20th! Congrats!

 

Lee group rocked the TMS 2024 (Orlando, FL)! There were FIVE oral presentations! Everyone did a great job!!!

• Alexander Horvath, “Tension-compression asymmetric behavior of screw dislocation in body-centered-cubic metal nanopillars,” Symposium: Mechanical Behavior at the Nanoscale VII, 4:10PM-4:30PM, 03/04/2024, Room: Manatee Spring I
• Seok-Woo Lee, “Micro-tensile behavior of niobium single crystals at cryogenic temperatures,” Symposium: Nanostructured Materials in Extreme Environments II, 5:20PM-5:40PM, 03/05/2024, room: Bayhill 19
• Zhognyuan Li, “Nanoporous amorphous carbon nanopillars with lightweight, near-theoretical strength, large fracture strain, and high damping capability,” Symposium: Mechanical Response of Materials Investigated through Novel
  In-situ Experiments and Modeling, 2:20PM-2:40PM, 03/06/2024, room: Barrel Spring I
• Kyrus Tsai (Mark Aindow’s group, Seok-Woo and Jay were co-authored!), “The Effects of Molybdenum Segregation on Mechanical Behavior in Maraging Steel Processed by Wire Directed Energy Deposition,” Symposium: High Performance Steels, 03/06/2024, 4:55PM-5:15PM, room: Bayhill 31
• Zachary Arenella, “Grain Size Effect on Microstructural Evolution in Nanocrystalline MgAl2O4 under Nanoindentation,” Symposium: Mechanical Behavior at the Nanoscale VII, 11-11:20AM, 03/07/2024, room: Manatee Spring I

 

<Dinner with Alex and Zhongyuan at Disney Spring>

<Alex’s presentation>

<Zack’s presentation>

<Dinner with Prof. William Nix (Seok-Woo’s PhD advisor) and his former PhD students>

 

 

Alex attended the CoE graduate poster competition (2/23/2024)! Well done!

 

 

Seok-Woo gave an invited talk at the EMA (Electronic Materials and Applications) meeting (February 13-16) organized by the American Ceramic Society (ACers)!

AcerS EMA 2024 (Denver, CO)

• Seok-Woo Lee, “Grain size dependence of mechanical properties of nanocrystalline magnesium aluminate MgAl₂O₄” (invited talk) – Symposium 5: Grain Boundary Structure and Mechanical Properties I, 2-2:30PM, 02/15/2024, room Colorado G.
  Abstract: To develop transparent materials with superior mechanical properties, nanocrystalline magnesium aluminate (MgAl₂O₄) spinel with grain sizes ranging from 3.7 to 80 nm has been synthesized by environmentally controlled pressure assisted sintering. In this study, we investigated the microstructure and grain size dependence of the mechanical properties of nanocrystalline MgAl₂O₄by performing transmission electron microscopy, nanoindentation, uniaxial micropillar compression, and micro-cantilever bending.Electron microscopy confirmed that the environmentally controlled pressure assisted sintering technique produces a nearly fully dense grain structure with a porosity of less than 1% in larger grain-sized ceramics and observably pore-free grain structures in the smaller grain-sized ceramics. Mechanical characterization revealed that nanoindentation hardness, compressive fracture strength, and fracture toughness each exhibit distinct grain size dependence. Our experimental results and numerical analyses point to a change in dominant strain accommodating mechanisms from dislocation-based plasticity to shear banding as the grain size is reduced, as previously suggested by the literature. Practical implications of the change in strain accommodation mechanisms manifest as the emergence of indentation size effect, weak grain size dependence of hardness and strength, and a ∼2-fold increase in apparent fracture toughness for the smaller grain-sized ceramics.

Gyuho was featured at the MSE department news! I wish him all the best for his success at Silicon Valley!

How to Have Fun in A Ph.D. Program

 

Alex passed the qualifying exam! Many Congratulations! It is the time to do research! 🙂

Tyler’s DNA lattice paper was selected as Editor’s choice – 2023 of Cell Reports Physical Science. Many Congratulations!

Aaron N. Michelson, Tyler J. Flanagan, Seok-Woo Lee*, Oleg Gang*, “Light-weight and high strength silica nanolattices templated from DNA origami,” Cell Reports Physical Science, 4, 101475 (2023) [PDF][web][Editor’s Choice – 2023!] – featured at UConn Today Columbia University News, American Ceramic Society News, the Department of Energy (DOE) website, Tech Brief, and Science Tech Daily!

Majoring In MSE Will Help You Shoot For The Stars

 

Shuyang‘s collaboration work (Tra Vinikoor et al.) was published at Nature Communications! Many congratulations!

Shuyang contributed to the nanoindentation measurement that quantifies the degree of healing of the articular cartilage. The mechanical properties of healed cartilages must be similar with those of heathy cartilages. This work shows that nanoindentation can also be used to study bio-materials (tissue re-generation).

Tra Vinikoor, Godwin dzidotor, Thinh T. Le, Yang Liu, Ho-Man Kan, Srimanta Barui, Meysam T. Chorsi,  Eli J. Curry, Emily Reinhardt, Hanzhang Wang, Parbeen Singh, Marc A Merriman, Ethan D’orio, Shuyang Xiao, James H Chapman, Feng Lin, Cao-Sang Truong, Somasundaram Prasadh, Lisa Chuba, Shaelyn Killoh, Seok-Woo Lee, Qian Wu, Ramaswamy M. Chidambaram, Kevin W. H. Lo, Cato T. Laurencin, Thanh D. Nguyen, “Injectable and biodegradable piezoelectric hydrogel for medical applications,” Nature Communications, 14, 6257 (2023) [PDF][web]