Stephen and Greg Spend Summer at Boeing Seattle as part of NSF GOALI Research
Monthly Archives January 2014
Albert Manero wins US Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research in Germany
The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program awards approximately 1,900 grants annually in all fields of study, and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Further information about the Fulbright can be found at their website http://us.fulbrightonline.org/.
Doctoral engineering student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida has been given the opportunity of a lifetime. Albert Manero has been offered the Fulbright Academic Grant Fellowship to Germany, where he will be working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as a part of his doctoral research in high temperature coatings for thermal protection systems with an application in jet turbine engines and for space planes. Albert has participated in an international collaboration with the German Aerospace Center since the summer of 2012 as part of our National Science Foundation OISE Catalyzing new international collaborations grant. His participation in the summer research experience in Cologne Germany set the foundation for a successful research relationship with joint publication outcomes. The Fulbright fellowship will provide Albert the opportunity to continue to forge this collaboration for his doctoral research.
Sanna, Kevin and Albert attend ICACC 2014
The 38th International conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites was held January 27th at 
Daytona Beach. Organized by the American Ceramic Society’s Engineering Ceramics Division and ACerS, ICACC’14 showcased cutting-edge research and product developments in advanced ceramics, armor ceramics, solid oxide fuel cells, ceramic coatings, bioceramics and more. The topical areas include advanced structural and functional ceramics, composites and other emerging ceramic materials and technologies.. Kevin and Albert presented their research on “High Energy X-rays Characterizing the Material Behavior of High Temperature Thermal Barrier Coatings” and “Piezospectroscopy Measurement of Thermal Barrier Coating Systems.” Sanna, Kevin and Albert also had the opportunity to meet with our DLR collaborators.
Piezospectroscopic Measurements Capturing the Evolution of Plasma Spray-Coating Stresses with Substrate Loads
Our paper in Applied Materials & Interfaces highlights the evolution of stress within APS coatings under increasing substrate loads captured using piezospectroscopy.
Abstract
Plasma-spray coatings have a unique microstructure composed of various types of microcracks and weakly bonded interfaces which dictate their nonlinear mechanical properties. The intrinsic photo-luminescence (PL) characteristics of alpha-alumina (α-Al2O3) within these coatings offer a diagnostic functionality, enabling these properties to be probed experimentally at the microscale, under substrate loading. The piezospectroscopic (PS) measurements from the coatings are capable of revealing microstructural stress at high spatial resolution. Here, for the first time, the evolution of stresses within air plasma spray (APS) coatings under increasing substrate loads were captured using piezospectroscopy. With mechanical cycling of the substrate, the PS properties revealed anelastic and inelastic behavior and a relaxation of residual tensile stress within the APS coatings. With decreasing substrate thickness, the coating was observed to sustain more stress, as the substrate’s influence on the mechanical behavior decreased. The findings provide an insight into the microstructural response that can serve as the basis for model validation and subsequently drive the design process for these coatings.
Kevin, Greg and Erik Present at AIAA SCI-TECH 2014
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IAA SciTech 2014 was one of the largest events for Aerospace research, development, and technology. It included multiple keynotes by industry professionals from all around the nation and paper presentations showcasing research from 45 countries around the world. Erik presented a paper on low strain rate ALOX experiments which was a result of our labs collaboration with Eglin Air Force Base. Greg presented a paper on the work our lab has done with Boeing on carbon fiber open-hole tension samples and Kevin presented a paper on synchrotron TBC data gathered at Argonne National Laboratory with a collaboration with DLR (German Aerospace Center).