Yufeng Zheng, assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering at UNR, stands in front of an electron microscope. | University of Nevada, Reno
Yufeng Zheng, assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering at UNR, stands in front of an electron microscope. | University of Nevada, Reno
University of Nevada, Reno assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering Yufeng Zheng began research last August to design new titanium blends with high strength and flexibility, a recent news release from the school said.
The university reported that Zheng's work could be critical to enhancing the production of light alloys in the aerospace- and car sectors.
"In the metastability engineering, the bulk stability of alloys is tailored by tuning their compositions to promote plastic deformation via strain-induced transformation as well as other hardening mechanisms, such as precipitation hardening and solid solution hardening, and thus achieve the combination of excellent strength and ductility," Zheng in the release.
He added that metastability engineering is an innovative idea where cutting-edge metal alloys surpass "the trade-off between strength and ductility."
"These metastable nanoprecipitates can alter the composition and structure in the local nanoscale region, and thus tailor the local stability in metastable titanium alloys and enable the activation of phase transformations that are spatially confined only to the nanoscale metastable regions," Zheng said.
Zheng's five-year endeavor is backed by the $520,583 National Science Foundation Career award he won this year, which is that organization's highest recognition to professors who progress the mission of their department, the release said.
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