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Materials / Composites Research

General
Associated Center
Associated Faculty

Selected Research Profiles

• Improved application of coatings improves equipment performance. . .
• Method improves jet engine performance. . .
  The advent of electron microscopy brought revolutionary change to not only medicine but also equipment manufacture as researchers were now able to discern and monitor minute structural changes in equipment subjected to high use, temperature and pressure stresses. One outcome has been development of new manufacturing techniques that incorporate nanotechnology. Dr. Leon Shaw has pioneered a new surface nanocrystallization and hardening (SNH) process that entails impacting metallic parts such as turbine blades and machined components with high-energy balls under a controlled atmosphere. This novel process can produce metallic engineering components with a nanocrystalline surface and course-grained interior along with the compositional hardening and the introduction of a desired residual stress distribution. The result is components that offer superior fatigue and wear properties - a boon to manufacturers whose equipment repair and replacement costs will decline.
  
• Fractals aid in design and processing of polymer matrix composites. . .
• Understanding composite formation at the most fundamental level. . .