- PhD student openings
Prof. Haiming Wen in Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology has opening for 1 PhD student to start in the semester of Fall 2024. The position is fully funded. Interested students should contact Prof. Wen directly. The PhD student will work on the research project described below. This project is funded by U.S. National Science Foundation. It involves in-situand ex-situ ion-irradiation and thermal annealing combined with cutting-edge microstructural characterization techniques to study irradiation-induced defects, solution redistribution and phase instability in austenitic 304L steel with a range of grain sizes. The phase instability of metastable austenitic steels in harsh service environments such as those involving intense irradiation and high temperature has been a long-standing problem, which impacts the properties and performance of these materials. It is conventionally thought that reducing grain size in metals will accelerate phase transformation, and that nanostructured metals have less phase stability. This research project for the first time challenges this assumption. The central hypothesis to be tested is that nanostructuring will enhance phase stability of austenitic steels during irradiation. The specific research objectives are to: (i) separate the irradiation and thermal effects for the microstructural changes during elevated-temperature irradiation; (ii) understand the mechanisms for irradiation-induced polymorphic transformation and the grain size effect on them; (iii)develop a strategy to stabilize small grains during irradiation.
- Postdoc openings
Current unavailable
- Visiting PhD students or scholars openings
Multiple positions are open for visiting PhD students and scholars. Specific research projects are flexible, as long as they fit the research scope described below. The visiting students/scholars must come with their own funding. Prof. Wen works in the area of materials for extreme environment applications, including energy, aerospace and defence. The overarching research theme is to design, develop, manufacture, characterize and test structural materials to achieve superior mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, irradiation tolerance and stability at high temperatures, for applications in extreme environments, as well as understand the fundamental mechanisms. The specific material systems for study include nanostructured metals and alloys (such as steels and aluminium alloys), high-entropy alloys, ceramics (such as SiC and high-entropy ceramics), as well as composites (including metal matrix composites and ceramic matrix composites). The manufacturing techniques used include casting, additive manufacturing, severe plastic deformation, powder metallurgy, rapid sintering, and etc.. The mostly used characterization tools in Prof. Wen’s group include electron microscopy and atom probe tomography.