MSE Special Seminar: Material Degradation Of Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics For Pace Applications - A Combined Computational And Experimental Study

Abstract: Due to good thermal conductivity and thermal shock resistance, ultra-hightemperature ceramics (UHTCs) have been investigated as promising materials to be used in reusable thermal protection systems (TPS). However the space environment with its high energy radiation, high temperature oxidation, poses risks for material degradation. When energetic particles or oxygen interact with materials in space environment, they can cause defects and resultant microstructural as well as property degradation. To design sustainable space materials under different mission conditions requires good understanding of the interaction of environment and materials in various scales. Currently, both computational and experimental approaches face severe challenges to investigate this interaction mechanism accurately. Modelling and interpreting the production and behavior of defects in materials face the bottleneck of large computational cost due to the complexity of the system. Classical ab initiodensity functional theory calculations are limited by small scale and short time whereas classical molecular dynamics are limited by insufficient accuracy. AI is proposed to bridge the gap by enabling a more accurate description of a material atatomic level at a relatively low computational cost. While the challenge in model linglies in the computational cost, the experimental challenge is mainly on the starting material control, both in terms of density and impurity level. I propose to synthesize ceramic materials with high precision in compositional control as well as high density, to map out the doping efficiency as well as solubility limits of foreign elements inpromising ceramic materials, before taking a step further to other material design methodology such as high entropy ceramic (HEC) materials. 

Bio: Yinglu Tang obtained her BSc at the department of materials science and engineering at Beihang University (previous Beijing University of Aeronautics andAstronautics) in China. She did her bachelor thesis in computational materials at EcoleNationale Supérieur Arts et Métiers in France. Later she studied for M.Sc. in polymerscience and engineering and diplôme d’ingénieur in Mechanical Engineering there. In 2010 She started her Ph.D. at California Institute of Technology in the United States. Her research topic was focused on understanding the electronic structure and phase relations for optimizing Skutterdite thermoelectric material. After her Ph.D., Tang joined the lab of Materials for Energy Conversion at EMPA in Switzerland, where she worked as a postdoctoral scientist in close collaboration with industrial companies to design and manufacture a prototype of thermoelectric generator for automobiles with novel intermetallic materials. Her interest in applied research also leads her to the corporate research center at ABB Switzerland and there she lead projects in electrical contact material research with metal-oxide composites for low-voltage switch gear applications. In 2020, out of her passion for fundamental science and research Tang decided to move back to academia and she is now an assistant professor at the department of Aerospace Structures and Materials within the faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology. Her research focuses on design and optimization of materials for space application, integrating phase diagram assisted defect engineering, transport phenomenon of electrons and phonons and structuraldesign.