The European Ceramic Society
Laboratory sheet
UK
EMAM
Characterization of the microstructure, damage and fracture of materials under extreme conditions over multiple length-scales.
Director : Dr Dong (Lilly) Liu
Email : dong.liu@bristol.ac.uk
Phone : +44 (0) 117 928 8702
Address : School of Physics, University of Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
Website : http://www.bristol.ac.uk/physics/people/dong-liu/overview.html
Research topics :
- Mechanistic Understanding of the Damage and Fracture in Ceramic-Matrix Composites under Extreme Conditions: Working with many industries and processing groups, this area studies a range of aerospace and nuclear CMCs in terms of their local mechanical and thermal properties, residual stresses, deformation and fracture including crack initiation and propagation from ambient to temperatures higher than 1000C with in situ imaging and diffraction methods.
- Damage and fracture in nuclear graphite composites over multiple length-scale: This topic studies a large range of polycrystalline graphite materials, from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite to fine/medium/coarse grained graphite composite, unirradiated or irradiated with ions, neutrons or protons, to understand their multiple length-scale structure, physical properties before and after irradiation, at ambient and up to 1100°C.
- Thermal and mechanical characterisation of TRISO fuels: This programme investigates a range of Tristructural Isotropic nuclear fuel particles (TRISO), both free-standing or embedded in SiC or graphite matrix, in terms of their local properties, residual stresses and high temperature mechanical properties changing with processing parameters.
- Interfacial strength of heterogeneously integrated ceramic films: A range of micro-mechanical testing methods have been developed to evaluate the interfacial toughness of thin ceramic films (e.g., GaN) integrated on stiff substrate including SiC, Si and single/polycrystalline diamond, with the aim to enable the development of novel semiconductor materials for high power radio frequency (RF) devices.
Exceptional facilities :
- Load cell with heating capability of >1000C for in situ imaging/diffraction at synchrotron sources
- A series of thermal conductivity measurement tools including spatial mapping equipment with micrometre resolution
- A range of mechanical testing equipment including micro-mechanical tools (indentation, in-SEM loading stages) and regular loading rigs
- Other characterisation equipment including Raman spectroscopy, TEM, FIB, AFM, X-ray diffraction, X-ray computed tomography, and labs for handling irradiated materials
Financial support programmes :
EPSRC, BEIS and various UK and US industrial funding
Latest news
New book by Prof. Suk-Joong Kang:
Prof. Kang is one of the foremost worldwide specialists in sintering and this book, presented as a series of questions and answers concerning sintering may be useful both to students of ceramics and also to teachers looking for questions to discuss with their students.
YCN Newsletter 23 - Brazil Capes Thesis Award and Flash (Sinter) Crystallization of Glass by Isabela Reis Lavagnini
We are proud to announce that Isabela Reis Lavagnini has been awarded the 2024 Capes Thesis Award for her outstanding work in Materials, titled "Flash Sintering of Zirconia, Hydroxyapatite, and Hydroxyapatite-Zirconia Composite."
Information
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