Event
Transforming Energy Lecture Series Sponsored by the Univ. of Maryland Energy Research
Thursday, July 12, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Room 1140, Plant Sciences Bldg.
Annette Mateus
301 405 4799
amateus@umd.edu
Dr. Yue Qi, Chemical Sciences and Materials Processes Lab,General Motors R&D Center
Computational Material Design From Hard Coatings to Soft Membranes
Abstract
Dramatic improvements have been made in computational techniques at different scales in the past few decades. This presentation briefly overviews how computational materials modeling has been integrated with research on lightweight energy storage materials in the auto industry. By transferring parameters, equations, and insights obtained from smaller to larger scales, combining and overlapping techniques has moved materials modeling into a truly multi-scale era. To improve Al alloy forming and machining, atomic simulations were integrated into aluminum high temperature forming modeling and used to guide a coating development to machine aluminum alloys. In another case, a coarse-graining approach was developed to obtain the morphologies of hydrated Nafion for fuel cells, where the network connectivity of hydrophilic domains strongly influences the proton conductivity and mechanical property of the membrane. Materials modeling did not stop at explaining existing data or confirming experimental findings, but it made an experimentally testable prediction for optimizing material structures and processing conditions before material synthesis. Predictive capability can lead to more efficient energy conversion and longer lasting materials.
Biography
Dr. Yue Qi is a Staff Research Scientist working on computational materials sciences at Materials and Processes Lab, General Motors R&D Center. Her research spans hard coatings, lightweight alloys, proton exchange membranes, and various nano-structured materials for energy storage. She completed her B.S. degree (Materials Science and Computer Science) at Tsinghua University, China in 1996. She received her PhD in Materials Science (minor in computer science) from California Institute of Technology in 2001. She then joined GM as a Sr. Research Scientist.
She received 2006 GM Campbell Award for Advances in Nano-scale Plasticity. She was the co-recipient of 1999 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for Theoretical Work with Dr. T. Cagin and Prof. W. A. Goddard III (PhD advisor).
