Event
MSE Seminar Series: Novel synthesis and properties of bulk nanostructured graphite
Friday, April 12, 2019
1:00 p.m.
2110 Chem/Nuc Building, UMD College Park
Sherri Tatum
statum12@umd.edu
https://mse.umd.edu/events/mse-seminar-series
Speaker: Alex O. Aning, Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Virginia Tech
Title: Novel synthesis and properties of bulk nanostructured graphite
Abstract:
Carbon is a very unique material. It is abundant, being found in gas, liquid and solid forms. In the solid state, its allotropic nature and its existence in various structural forms lead to a wide range of mechanical and physical properties and hence numerous applications. Synthetic graphite exists as carbonized where the structure is mostly in the form of polycrystalline or crystallite aggregates usually in the nanometer range, and graphitized which is typically the processed/synthesized or molded bulk such as those used as electrodes with much larger grains and with much less defects. Typical carbonized graphite is in powder, particle or fiber and not bulk form. A novel thermomechanical process has been used to synthesize nano-structured graphite in the bulk. The processing, characterization and potential applications of the bulk material will be discussed.
Bio
Alex Aning is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech (VT). He holds the BS degree in Physics (1977) from Morgan State University, Baltimore and PhD in Metallurgical Engineering (1982) from University of Missouri at Rolla (UMR) under Prof. Manfred Wuttig. He stayed at UMR for 18 more months to continue his studies in nonlinear anelasticity. He joined the physics department at Morgan State University in 1983, and in 1984 became the first faculty member in the newly established engineering school. As the department head of Electrical Engineering he led the program to its first ABET accreditation review in its 5th year; the program received it accreditation and was one of the only four that first received commendations from ABET for innovation that year. In 1998 to 2005, his home was the Department of Engineering Fundamentals (now Engineering Education) at VT where he chaired the committee that developed the current Engineering Education graduate program. His research has been in engineering education, powder processing, and the synthesis/processing of amorphous alloys and particulate-strengthened metal matrix composites.
