A thermomechanical crystal plasticity model investigates how metals develop internal stresses and plastic deformation during thermal cycling. The model reveals that temperature variations can induce microplasticity, residual stresses, and localized lattice rotations. These insights are relevant for optimizing processes like metal forming and additive manufacturing, where large temperature changes significantly influence mechanical performance.

Jesus De La Mora, an undergraduate researcher and UC LEADS scholar, delivered a compelling presentation summarizing his research findings. His study employed phase field dislocation dynamics to investigate the critical glide stress of screw dislocations in molybdenum (Mo) across a temperature range of 300K to 1200K. The results revealed a decrease in critical glide stress with increasing temperature. Understanding the deformation behavior of pure body-centered cubic (bcc) metals like Mo is crucial for developing stronger and more temperature-resistant bcc alloys.

In this study, we explored the deformation and defect structures in the bcc-based Heusler intermetallic through a combination of in situ micro-mechanical testing and computational techniques. An ab initio informed phase field dislocation dynamics model is developed and used for predicting both defect structures in MnCu2Al, and the minimum stress to move them, at a resolution beyond the current experimental capabilities. 

Nico Fuchs-Lynch was awarded the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship for 2023.  This award promises career planning and development mentoring and is funded by the Department of Education.

The Beyerlein group is excited to welcome the addition of Postdoctoral Scholar Pulkit Garg.  Pulkit will study multi-scale dislocation dynamics modeling of refractory multi-principal element alloys.  Before joining UCSB, Pulkit was a postdoc with Prof. Timothy Rupert at UC, Irvine where he investigated the structure-property relationships in nanocrystalline materials using molecular dynamics and first-principles techniques.

Brandon Leu is a recent graduate from the Beyerlein group. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials in March 2022. His research involved understanding twin/precipitate interactions in ultra-strong Mg alloys.

The Acta Student Award recognizes high quality in publication and great leadership potential in materials science.  Brandon's award-winning Materialia article is: Twinning pathways enabled by precipitates in AZ91, Materialia 21 (2022) 101292.