Research Interests
Development of High-Temperature Cobalt-Based Superalloys
The goal of this research effort is to develop new high-temperatures cobalt-based superalloys, with the aim of supplanting nickel-based superalloys with gamma(f.c.c.) plus gamma-prime(L12 structure) microstructures, for use as turbine blades in commercial and military aircraft and land-based natural-gas-fired turbines for producing electricity. The driving force for this research is that the maximum operating temperature of nickel-based superalloys is reaching a plateau and hence their thermodynamic efficiency is also on a plateau. These alloys are studied using atom-probe tomography, scanning electron microscopy, microhardness and creep measurements, and three-dimensional dislocation dynamics (In cooperation with Prof. David C. Dunand).

Five-Dimensional Correlative Studies of the Temporal Evolution of Nickel-Aluminum Alloys on a Nano- to Subnanoscale
The focus of this research is on the temporal evolution of the nucleation, growth and coarsening gamma-prime (L12 structure) precipitates in Ni-Al alloys utilizing three-dimensional atom-probe tomography, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, monovacancy mediated lattice-kinetics Monte Carlo simulations. Phase separation in multicomponent alloys is basic to understanding and predicting microstructures of all high-temperature alloys.