-- MSE Seminar: Connections: Superplasticity, Damascus Steels, The Giza Pyramid, and Carbon Dating

Abstract

In the mid-1970’s, a race was underway to develop superplasticity in steels following the successful demonstration of the commercial application of superplastic forming in Aluminum alloys.  This talk will describe how that research program led to a series of investigations into historical materials.  These include Damascus Steels, a wide range of laminated steel weapons (Indonesian krises, the Japanese sword, adze blades), and a rare and controversial laminated iron plate found in an air channel in the Great Pyramid of Giza.  If the Giza plate were to be contemporaneous with the date of construction of the pyramid, it would challenge the accepted starting date of the iron-age.  These studies subsequently inspired a program on carbon dating of steels as well as an attempt to resolve a mystery surrounding certain knives made in the U.S. in the 1920’s.

Bio

Jeff Wadsworth is President and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute, the world’s largest nonprofit R&D organization, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Jeff worked at Stanford, Lockheed, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, joining Battelle in 2002, as part of the White House Transition Planning Office for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He was then director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and subsequently headed Battelle’s Global Laboratory Operations, directing laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy, DHS, and others. Jeff earned bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at Sheffield University in England and has published 300 scientific papers, 1 book, and 4 U.S. patents. He has five honorary doctorates, Fellowships in three technical societies, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  As a Board member of Achieve, Inc. and the Business Higher Education Forum, Jeff is helping to lead national efforts to enhance science, technology, engineering and math education. He also is strengthening education and the economy in Central Ohio, through his engagement with local civic and community organizations.