Dr. Jagannathan Rajagopalan, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Arizona State University will give a seminar titled "Synthesis and Mechanical Behavior of Metallic Films With Precisely Controlled Microstructures" to the interested faculty and students at Discovery Park.

Abstract

The microstructure of metallic films plays a predominant role in determining their mechanical and physical properties. Hence, it is critical to control the micro/nanostructure of the films to tailor their properties for various applications. In this talk, I will provide an overview of our lab’s efforts to synthesize metallic films with precisely controlled microstructures using physical vapor deposition. Specifically, I will describe new methods we have developed to a) systematically vary the grain size and distribution of intermetallic films using seed-mediated crystallization of amorphous precursors, and b) fabricate elemental metallic films with precisely defined heterogeneous microstructures using heteroepitaxial growth on patterned substrates. I will also discuss how these synthesis methods can be used to tune the mechanical properties of the films and methodically explore their structure-property relationships.

Bio

Dr. Jagannathan Rajagopalan is currently an Associate Professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering and a graduate faculty in materials science and engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). Before joining ASU, he completed his B.Tech and M.Tech at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His lab at ASU is focused on developing new synthesis methods for controlling the microstructure of thin films/coatings and characterizing their deformation mechanisms and mechanical properties using advanced electron microscopy and MEMS. Jagannathan is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, and his research has been published in Science, Nature Communications, Advanced Functional Materials, Acta Materialia, among others.