Dr. Yufeng Zheng, Assistant Professor from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at University of Nevada, Reno will give a seminar titled "Decoding Complex Thermokinetics Driven Microstructure Evolution Pathways in Additively Manufactured Materials" to the interested faculty and students at Discovery Park.

Abstract

To reduce the fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, there is a continued demand for lightweight metals for better performance in modern aircraft and automobiles. Titanium alloys have attracted significant attention in these areas, due to their high specific strength, great fracture toughness, and excellent corrosion resistance. However, relatively high manufacturing cost of titanium alloys limits their applications. This presentation is focused on the application of analytical materials characterization techniques to study the fundamentals in the development and manufacturing of lightweight titanium alloys. I will firstly introduce the influence of a new nanoscale O” phase on the fine-scaled alpha phase precipitation in a Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr (wt.%, Ti-5553) alloy, studied coupling the aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) and atom probe tomography (APT). Additionally, the morphology of grain boundary alpha precipitates in Ti-5553 investigated using the correlative electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and tomographic focused ion beam- scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) will be discussed. Finally, I will show how to utilize different post heat treatment to tune alpha microstructure in the directed energy deposited Ti-5553.

Biography

Dr. Yufeng Zheng is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at University of Nevada Reno (UNR) and director for UNR Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility. Before joining UNR, Dr. Zheng was a research associate at the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS) and the Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials (CAMM) at The Ohio State University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2013, under the supervision of Dr. Hamish Fraser. Dr. Zheng’s research focuses on studying the processing-structure-property relationships in the metallic materials under different thermal and mechanical environment via multi-scale ex- and in-situ characterization techniques. His research interests involve the manufacturing, characterization, and design of advanced lightweight metals, such as titanium alloys fabricated by additive manufacturing for aerospace application. Dr. Zheng’s research at UNR was sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and industry companies. He is a 2022 NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Awardee and 2023 NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Research Fellow. Dr. Zheng has published more than 55 papers in the peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Nature Communication, Acta Materialia, etc. Dr. Zheng is a member of TMS, MRS, ASM International, and MSA, and he serves as the vice chair in the TMS Titanium Committee. Dr. Zheng is awarded 2023 TMS Young Leaders Professional Development Award by the TMS Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division.