Introduction
The research in this group is focussed on developing the understanding between the interrelationship of material processing, microstructure on the properties as well as the impact on the performance of the final part.
The current materials of interest that are actively pursued are:
- Aluminum alloys
- Magnesium alloys
- Iron alloys
- 3-D printed metal alloys
- Composite materials
The main aim being able to develop multiscale models that can take into account the properties at micro-/nano- scale all the way up to actual parts.
Scientific approach
To achieve this the group conducts basic research on understanding the interrelationship of processing, microstructure and properties. This is done by using a combination pointed experimental characterization that complement the major focus of development of characterization techniques and constitutive model development.
The materials of interest for the group are:
- High strength aluminum alloys
- Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) and 4th generation steels
- Magnesium alloys
- Additively manufacture metal alloys
Each of these presents unique challenges like, accounting for failure, phase transformation, twin formation, defect generation etc. To address these new 3Dcharacterization techniques need to be used to generate accurate 3D representation of the synthetic microstructure. The modelling effort consists of developing constitutive laws that can be incorporated in advanced phenomenological models that account for texture rotation, Taylor-type crystal plasticity models, in-house crystal plasticity models as well as development of user material models that can be used with commercial finite element codes.
This work is complemented by targeted experimental characterization at component level as well as developing the understanding at microstructural level with microscopy techniques like, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
A new addition to the characterization is to use advanced computer tomography (CT) to non-destructively observe the 3D microstructure.