Bio
I am a materials scientist working in the field of fusion and fission materials. I received a Doctor of Engineering and Materials Science from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2017 for my work on austenitic ODS steels for fusion applications and worked afterward under the umbrella of EUROFusion delegated to ORNL on an ongoing irradiation campaign, where Eurofer steels were irradiated in HFIR at ORNL. I was hired in 2020 and since then, I have broadened my scope toward structural materials for fusion and fission, from ferrtitic-martensititc steels, to vanadium, tungsten, Cr-coated Zr, and alumina-forming austenite. and bainitic steels. Recently I took over the EUROfusion work on the ORNL side as the PI, were we investigate doped samples to determine the impact of trasmutation elements like hydrogen and helium on EUROFER steels.
I am leading an ongoing ARPA-E GAMOW project on the transition layer design from tungsten to steel using additive manufacturing for fusion divertor and first wall applications, while being T2M lead for two ARPA-E GAMOW projects. That exposure to the fusion industry led to multiple INFUSE awards and an expanded network between ORNL and American fusion companies, attracting more collaborations. In established collaborations with Texas A&M, we were awarded an ARPA-E CHADWICK project, were I serve as the ORNL PI. This projects will use digital tools to perform materials discovery a thousand times faster than traditional means, screening up to hundreds of new material compositions in a day, and will verify their computations by making and testing a select number of materials. Out of a near-infinite design space, the project will identify and fabricate several optimized materials suitable to replace first wall materials in a fusion power plant.
I am leading two of those on PIE of Ni-doped Fe-based alloys and the development of a novel Vanadium alloy for fusion applications, with an award size of $600k and $500k, respectively. Under a recent LDRD, I am working on the additive manufacturing of tungsten and the geometric impact on the microstructure, which will be continued under a recently awarded Lab-call.
I am managing the FIRE IMPACT collaboration, with Steve Zinkle as the PI, including 10 institutions collaborating on developing a step-wise code case for fusion materials, using CNA steels and a first large scale of novel vanadium alloys.
From the fission materials research side, I am working on coated cladding concepts for AFC, leading the manufacturing, and microstructure characterization using SEM, TEM, XRD methods. Nanoindentation experiments were successfully applied to determine mechanical properties on a micro-scale. Recently, I started leading the task to additively manufacture alumina forming austinite materials applying in-depth knowledge about ODS austenite materials to the field of additive manufacturing.
I am also involved in the ongoing CNA steels scale-up and the additive manufacturing of graded components.
Professional Experience
Lab Space Manager for two lab spaces A161 and B163 in 4500S
Professional Affiliations
DMG
TMS
Specialized Equipment
- Microscopy: TEM, SEM
- X-ray Diffraction: Residual Stress, Rietveld, Dislocation Density calculations
ZOZ Simoloyer mechanical alloying