October 4, 2021: "Understanding the Microstructural, Mechanical and Corrosion Properties of Advanced Materials for Aerospace and Ocean Environment"

• October 4, 2021
• 4:00 p.m.
• Yao (Yolanda) Fu, Assistant Professor, Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Tech
• Faculty Host: Gregory Young

Abstract: Advanced materials play key roles in the technological developments in many disciplines such as aerospace and ocean engineering, mechanical engineering, bioengineering, and more. In order to reduce the cycle from design to deployment of advanced materials, integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) seeks to build a new paradigm that links design and manufacturing via materials models at multiple length scales in a seamless and integrated environment.

This seminar will focus on two research topics by employing the ICME approaches: i) Understanding the corrosion fatigue properties of stainless steels manufactured by laser powder bed fusion process in chloride-containing solution with concentration close to that of sea water, and how these properties depend on the unique microstructures and defects formed during the printing process. ii) Clarifying the dominant strengthening mechanism and how variant selection enables the strengthening in the preferential direction (i.e., anisotropic strengthening) in a nickel-based superalloy for turbine blades in the aircraft engine and power plant application.  This work paves the way to further understanding the microscopic features and underlying mechanisms that control the mechanical and environmental behaviors of advanced metallic materials.

Bio: Dr. Yao (Yolanda) Fu is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at the Virginia Tech since August 2021. Prior to that, she was an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Fu received her PhD degree in mechanical engineering at University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests lie in the area of computationally guided prediction and evaluation of materials degradation under harsh environment and innovative materials design and manufacturing, including: 1) understanding environmentally-assisted cracking properties of metallic materials; 2) predicting and controlling the microstructural features and manufacture defects of additively manufactured alloys; and 3) developing high performance materials for high temperature applications. She has been awarded by the 2021 NSF Early Career program and 2021 ONR Young Investigator Program.