Heterostructured Interfaces in Metal Nanolayers
Bimetallic nanolayered materials are advanced materials known for their exceptional mechanical strength, radiation damage tolerance, and thermal stability. In this talk, we will focus on the mechanical behavior of nanolayered metallic composites made with extraordinarily “thick” biphase interfaces. We will discuss efforts to characterize and design the morphology, size, and chemistry of the interface, especially in its third dimension (normal to the interface plane). Results from a phase field model developed to simulate the dynamic interactions of individual dislocations and these three-dimensional interfaces under applied stress will be presented. The talk will share our experimental and computational findings to date, which indicate that strength, strain delocalization, and dislocation/interface interactions are sensitive to interface thickness and through-thickness chemical gradients. We will conclude with a discussion on the intriguing possibility to design heterostructured thick interfaces to attenuate strain concentrations and postpone instabilities without sacrificing strength.
Irene J. Beyerlein is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara with a joint appointment in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Departments. She is also the Robert and Victoria Mehrabian Interdisciplinary Professor. After receiving her Ph.D. degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell University in 1997, she began a postdoctoral appointment as a J.R. Oppenheimer Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she remained on the scientific staff in Theoretical Division until 2016. She has published one book, nine book chapters, and more than 450 peer-reviewed articles in the field of structural composites, materials processing, multiscale modeling of microstructure/property relationships, deformation mechanisms, and polycrystalline plasticity. She is an editor for Acta Materialia and Scripta Materialia. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Over the last decade, she has been awarded the Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow’s Prize for Research (2012), the International Plasticity Young Researcher Award (2013), the TMS Distinguished Scientist/Engineering Award (2018), the Brimacombe Metal (2019), MRS Fellow (2021), TMS Fellow (2023), Magnesium Person of the Year (2023), and the Khan International Medal (2024).
About Elizabeth D. Rockwell
A fourth generation Houstonian, Mrs. Rockwell was an Executive Director, Private Client Division of CIBC Oppenheimer Corp. She was widely recognized as an expert in retirement, estate, investment, and tax planning. She was an early proponent of the Keogh and IRA plans, for which she has been nationally recognized.
In 1991, she qualified to be a member of the Million Dollar Round Table as well as the Texas Leaders Round Table. Since 1990 she had authored a monthly column for the Houston Chronicle.
Mrs. Rockwell served as President of the UH College of Business Administration Foundation Board, as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, and was an Executive Professor for the college. She also served as a member of the advisory board of the Health Law and Policy Institute and as a Trustee of the University of Houston System’s Foundation, as well as a member of the UH System’s Planned Giving Council.
Mrs. Rockwell served on the Board of Governors for the Houston Forum, and as a Board member of the American Red Cross, the Greater Houston Women’s Foundation, the University of Houston Alumni Organization, and the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. She was a member of the River Oaks Business Women’s Exchange Club, the National Tax Sheltered Annuity Association, the Texas Association of College Teachers, and the Houston Association of Life Underwriters.
Among her numerous honors, she has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Houston, the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Houston Alumni Organization and from the UH College of Business Administration. Throughout the years she has been recognized for her many achievements by the Education Foundation of Harris County, the Houston Community College System’s Television Station Advisory Council, and the Houston Mayor’s READ Commission.
The Houston Alumni Center is home to the Elizabeth D. Rockwell President’s Suite. In September 1997, the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Career Services Center was opened in the UH College of Business Administration. She endowed the Chair for the Dean of the M.D. Anderson Library.
Mrs. Rockwell was listed in the Who’s Who in the South and Southwest; Who’s Who in finance and Industry; Who’s Who of American Women; and Who’s Who in the World.