Grad Student Earns Paper Award

Sept. 24, 2018 - The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has recognized Umberto Scipioni Bertoli, Samueli School graduate student researcher in materials science and engineering, with its Deputy Director for Science and Technology Excellence in Publication Award.

Scipioni Bertoli’s work, “On the Limitations of Volumetric Energy Density as a Design Parameter for Selective Laser Melting,” published in the January 2017 issue of Materials and Design, was noted for having an “especially significant impact on the external scientific and technical community and/or on important Laboratory missions.”

In the paper, Scipioni Bertoli and coworkers provide a fully detailed explanation of the shortcomings and limitations of trusting volumetric energy density (VED), a commonly used parameter in the field of laser metal 3D printing, also known as selective laser melting.

“This approach allows scientists and engineers to practically combine several process parameters into a single quantity (VED), but the problem is it does not capture any of the complex physical phenomena that take place during the manufacturing process and can therefore miss important aspects and easily mislead engineers in the wrong direction,” said Scipioni Bertoli.

Scipioni Bertoli conducted the experiments for this research at LLNL. “I felt very fortunate at the time (2016) to be able to access LLNL facilities, and now I feel even happier to see that our hard work has received further recognition, besides having already been published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

This was Scipioni Bertoli’s first published paper as first author. His adviser is Professor Julie  Schoenung.

– Lori Brandt