Group Members

Principal Investigator:

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Research Fellow:

1.  Continuum scale simulation of transport and microstructure evolution in energy materials and automated parametrization of phase field models

2.  Currently I am working on modeling mechanochemical effects on transport and degradation in ionic conductors and developing a tool called the AI-enabled Model BuilDER (AMMBER) to speed up parametrization of phase field models for microstructure evolution.  I am also investigating coarsening of bicontinuous metal-liquid microstructures that result from dealloying of metal alloys upon exposure to molten salts.

3.  My research has the common theme of continuum scale modeling and simulation with three separate areas of investigation.  In the first research area, I simulate ionic transport and chemomechanical effects in ionic conductors.  I investigate ionic transport both in FEM simulations at the scale of an experimental cell using COMSOL as well as in microstructure-level simulations that explicitly represent the grains and grain boundaries in polycrystalline ceramic ionic conductors.  In the near future, we also intend to simulate degradation mechanisms (e.g., Li filament growth) in all-solid-state batteries.  In the second area, I am working on developing the AI-enabled Model BuilDER (AMMBER).  This software tool will speed up the parametrization of phase field models for microstructure evolution, especially for multicomponent, multiphase systems that are difficult to parametrize by hand.  In the third research area, I am simulating coarsening of bicontinuous structures resulting from the dealloying of metal alloys upon exposure to a molten salt.  Our goal is to understand which transport mechanisms are driving coarsening and to extract the kinetic coefficients for those mechanisms.

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Graduate Students:

My research involves phase field modeling of crystal growth for the production of 1) metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) and 2) large single crystals. 

The thermomechanical properties of MMNCs heavily depend on the nanoparticle distribution. I study the physics of the nanoparticle-solidification front interaction during solidification to better understand how to control particle dispersion and achieve the desired properties. 

Large single crystals are typically grown from a melt during directional solidification. However, it has recently been shown they can be produced in the solid-state via cyclic heat treatment (CHT), where abnormal grain growth (AGG) can be triggered during annealing. It is hypothesized that AGG is driven by stored-energy in subgrains formed after cycling between one- and two-phase states. My work involves using phase field modeling to investigate this growth mechanism and optimize the CHT.

Project title: Modeling and simulation of material synthesis processes

My research focuses on the phase-field modeling of solid-state metathesis reactions to capture the concentration evolution of ionic species in space and time. I also work on developing COMSOL models to simulate heat transfer in furnaces and conductivity in metathesis reactions.

I am developing the software “AMMBER: The AI-enambeled Model BuildER,” which provides a suite of general-purpose multi-phase-field model implementations and tooling to rapidly parameterize and deploy simulations for the purpose of determining unknown physical parameters. When I have energy, I run a math art page.

I work on the phase field modeling of alloy solidification. My simulations can capture the anisotropic growth of solids from binary liquid alloys, and my research aims to further investigate the microstructure evolution in real Metal Matrix Nanocomposites (MMNCs) systems.

Project Title: Phase-Field Modeling for Microstructure Evolution in Molten Salts

I use phase-field modeling to study the mechanisms behind the microstructure evolution at the interface between molten salt and the structural alloys, including corrosion and diffusion. Molten salt nuclear reactors are a promising technology for clean energy, but one of their challenges is microstructure evolution at the molten salt-structural alloy interface, compromising the integrity of the structure. Our goal is to examine the mechanisms behind this microstructure evolution using phase-field models informed by experimental results. We employ models for corrosion and surface diffusion to study their effects on the microstructure in isolation and when combined. This work is supported by the Department of Energy EFRC Molten Salts in Extreme Environments.

In my free time, I like cooking, spending time outdoors, drawing, and reading.

My current research focuses on the modeling of intermetallic formation on nanoparticles during solidification through phase-field modeling. Insight into this solidification behavior can assist the informed materials design of in-situ metal matrix nanocomposites. Outside of research, I enjoy baking and reading.

My modeling work examines the effects of degradation mechanisms in solid-state batteries, with a particular focus on chemo-mechanics. This work includes studies of voids, filaments, and the stresses associated with intercalation/deintercalation.

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Former Group Members:

	Current Position	Location
Supriyo Chakraborty	Assistant Professor	IIT Jammu
Daniel Williams	Undergrad Student	University of Michigan
Jindong Huang	Master Student	University of Michigan
Jacob Lepley	Undergrad Student	University of Michigan
Sammie Staudinger	Undergrad Student	University of Michigan
Andrew Danbury	PhD Student	MIT
Kevin Masel	PhD Student	Northwestern
Vishwas Goel	Electrochemical Energy Storage Engineer	Enphase
Guanglong Huang	Senior Algorithm Engineer	Ambarella
Alex Chadwick	Postdoctoral Fellow	Northwestern University
Victor W. L. Chan	Postdoc	RPI
Hsun-Yi Chen	Assistant Professor	National Taiwan University
Hui-Chen Chen
Min-Ju Choe	System Engineer	Northrop Grumman
Stephen DeWitt	Research Investigator	PRISMS Center, University of Michigan
Scien Du
Chloe Funkhouser	Principle Engineer	Baxter Healthcare
Erik Hanson	Research Engineer	Sakti3
Emma Humphrey	Ph.D Candidate	Carnegie Mellon University
Andrea Jokisaari	Postdoc	Argonne National Laboratory
Saeed Kazemiabnavi	Battery Modeling Engineer	Ford Motor Company
Yangjun Lyu
S M Golam Mortuza	Electrified Propulsion System Simulation Engineer	FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Tapiwa Mushove	Engineer	Intel
Bernardo Orvananos	Management Consultant	Boston Consulting Group
Chal Park	LIFT(Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow)
Nick Patterson	Engineer	Raytheon
Nirand Pisutha-Arnond	Associate Professor	King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology
Max Powers	Ph.D. Candidate	University of Michigan
Luis Sagastume	Lighting Engineer	FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Mujan Seif	Ph.D. Candidate	University of Kentucky
Doaa Taha	CFD Application Development Engineer	General Motor
Michael Tong
Martina Trini	Researcher	Fondazione Bruno Kessler – FBK
Hui-Chia Yu	Assistant Professor	Michigan State University
Mojue Zhang

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