MSE Colloquium: Emmanuelle Marquis, The Minority Rules: Radiation and Oxidation Resistance of Nuclear Materials and High Temperature Alloys

Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan

Abstract

The ability to improve the performance of materials is driven by how well microstructures are understood and controlled.  The three-dimensional distribution of solutes, dopants, or impurities, in relation to structural features, can determine such properties as fracture toughness, strength, ductility, and oxidation resistance. Focusing on structural materials used for nuclear and high temperature applications, I will present and discuss our recent results on the irradiation response of model Fe-Cr alloys stainless steels and the oxidation response of Zr alloys. These examples highlight the significant role of solutes (impurities or intentional alloying elements), which can be understood through systematic and controlled experiments and the use of high resolution characterization techniques to quantify microstructures.

Bio

 

Returning to the Midwest some number of years after earning her PhD from Northwestern University, Emmanuelle so far has survived 3 winters while on the faculty at the University of Michigan. Previously she enjoyed 5 years in sunny California working at Sandia National Laboratories and 4 years of mild weather at the University of Oxford. She now leads a fun team of students and post-docs whose work focuses on linking atomic scale phenomena and microstructures to the evolution of materials behaviors.

Dr. Emmanuelle Marquis' research focuses on understanding and quantifying the mechanisms controlling microstructural evolution in alloy systems (including light alloys), interfacial properties, oxidation behavior and irradiation effects in materials. To complement her experimental work, she forges close ties to groups in computational and theoretical materials science. Her work is pushing the limits of atomic scale microscopy techniques, i.e. atom-probe tomography and high resolution transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy and Emmanuelle is continuously working on improving these imaging techniques and developing new approaches to data analysis. She has also succeeded in expanding the realm of atom-probe tomography to include the analysis of microstructural features in bulk oxides.