Speaker:Zach Trautt, George Mason University
Title: Grain Boundary Properties From Atomistic Simulations

Abstract: Grain boundaries play a significant role during the processing and use of polycrystalline material. While engineering microstructure remains the goal of much of materials processing, current efforts remain severely handicapped due to the lack of a fundamental as well as quantitative understanding of thermodynamic and kinetic properties of grain boundaries. Grain boundary properties are extracted via physical experiments and modeling & simulation. The benefits and drawbacks of each method will be discussed. Atomistic simulations, specifically molecular dynamics, incorporate the atomic-scale mechanisms which are central to the understanding of grain boundary properties. This talk will present a broad overview of recent work using atomistic simulations to probe grain boundary properties. We find that grain boundary properties are highly sensitive to spatial degrees of freedom, temperature, impurity concentration, etc.

Time: Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Place: Science and Tech I, Room 242

Department of Mathematical Sciences
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MS 3F2
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
http://math.gmu.edu/
Tel. 703-993-1460, Fax. 703-993-1491