mohsenzaeem's blog

Shape memory ceramics, such as yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (YSTZ), offer unique properties including ultra-high operating temperatures and high resistance to oxidation. However, they are susceptible to formation of defects during manufacturing and/or by mechanical deformation. To completely take advantage of their shape memory properties, it is necessary to fully understand the nano-structural evolution of defects under external stimuli. In this study, defect evolution behaviors in YSTZ nanopillars are investigated by atomistic simulations.

We studied the oxidation behavior of face-centered cubic Al0.3CoCrCuFeNi high entropy alloy through first-principles calculations. Three surface orientations were chosen for oxidation, and all the possible combinations of atomic positions at these surfaces were considered. The adsorption energy of oxygen adhesion to the studied surfaces was the lowest for the sites with more neighboring Cr atoms, and the second most favorite site for oxygen adsorption had more neighboring Al atoms.

Formation of solidification defects and their evolution in uniaxial tensile deformation of solidified polycrystalline aluminum (Al) were investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. First, solidification process was simulated both isothermally and with different quench rates. At the initial stages of nucleation, coherent twin boundaries and/or fivefold twins formed depending on the quench rate or the undercooling temperature.

A PostDoc/Research Assistant Professor Position is available immediately on DFT/Phase Field Modeling at the Colorado School of Mines. The applicants should have a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science or in a relevant field, with a strong background in DFT calculations and phase-field modeling. The project involves simulating structures/phases, kinetics and nano/microstructural evolution in advanced manufacturing. Please send your CV with 2-3 of your recent and reverent publications to zaeem@mines.edu (Prof. Asle Zaeem).

Shape memory ceramics are a unique family of shape memory materials with a wide variety of applications, such as ultra-high energy dissipation and high-temperature actuation. Along with significant progress in the experimental study of zirconia-based shape memory ceramics in recent years, computational simulations have exhibited powerful capabilities in revealing nano/microstructure-dependent deformation and failure mechanisms in these materials.

N. Zhang, Y. Hong, S. Yazdanparast, and M. Asle Zaeem. Superior structural, elastic and electronic properties of 2D titanium nitride MXenes over carbide MXenes: A comprehensive first principles study. 2D Materials 5 (2018) 045004

Homogeneous nucleation from aluminum (Al) melt was investigated by million-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations utilizing the second nearest neighbor modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potentials. The natural spontaneous homogenous nucleation from the Al melt was produced without any influence of pressure, free surface effects and impurities. Initially isothermal crystal nucleation from undercooled melt was studied at different constant temperatures, and later superheated Al melt was quenched with different cooling rates.

The compressive mechanical responses of silicon nanoparticles with respect to crystallographic orientations are investigated by atomistic simulations. Superelastic and abrupt hardening-stiffening behaviors are revealed in [110]-, [111]- and [112]-oriented nanoparticles. The obtained hardness values of these particles are in good agreement with the experimental results. In particular, [111]-oriented particle is extremely hard since its hardness (∼33.7 GPa) is almost three times greater than that of the bulk silicon (∼12 GPa).

Mechanical properties of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (YSTZ) bicrystals under compressive loading are investigated by atomistic simulations. Previous studies on deformation of single-crystal YSTZ showed that some specific orientations promote dislocation emission, tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation, or both. In this work, nanograins with different orientations are selectively combined to generate bicrystals with various grain boundaries (GBs).

Effects of Cu, Mn, Al, Ti, Mo on generalized stacking fault energies, Rice-criterion ductilities, and twinabilities of CoCrFeNi-based face-centered cubic high entropy alloys were investigated using density functional theory calculations. The calculated barrier energies and twinnabilities revealed that the addition of Ti or Mo increased the tendency of dislocation glide and deformation twinning, while addition of Mn, Cu and relatively high amount of Al facilitated dislocation gliding and martensitic transformation. Low amount of Al resulted in only dislocation gliding.

The nanoscale plastic deformation of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (YSTZ) is highly dependent on the crystallographic orientations, i.e., dislocation is induced when the loading direction is 45° tilted to {111} and {101} slip planes, while tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation dominates the plastic deformation when loading direction is perpendicular to the slip planes.

Selection and thermal stability of phases are important in design of high entropy alloys (HEA). In this study, phase formations in cast AlFeCoNiCu HEA were investigated. Ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations were used to determine crystal structures of phases at different temperatures in equiatomic composition of AlFeCoNiCu. The AIMD results showed a possible coexistence of a face-centered cubic (fcc) phase and a bodycentered cubic (bcc) phase at the room temperature and indicated stabilization of a single fcc phase above 1070 K at the equiatomic composition of AlFeCoNiCu.

Call for Abstracts, ASME 2017 IMECE, 3-9 November 2017, Tampa, Florida

Track: Materials: Genetics to Structures

Symposium: 11‐6 Phase Transformations in Materials Processing and Their Effects on Mechanical Properties

Highly porous alumina-zirconia ceramics were produced by adding space-holder materials during freeze casting. To increase the strength of porous ceramics, different amounts of nanoadditives (silicon carbide-SiC, silica-SiO2, and multi-wall carbon nanotubes-CNTs) were added. Space-holder materials were removed by preheating, and solid samples were produced by sintering. Up to 68% porosity was achieved when 40% space-holder was added to the solid load of slurry. Wall thicknesses between pores were more uniform and thinner when nanoadditives were added.

This work deals with the quantification and application of the modified two-mode phase-field crystal model (M2PFC; Asadi and Asle Zaeem, 2015) for face-centered cubic (FCC) metals at their melting point. The connection of M2PFC model to the classical density functional theory is explained in this article. M2PFC model in its dimensionless form contains three parameters (two independent and one dependent) which are determined using an iterative procedure based on the molecular dynamics and experimental data.

A multiphase field model is developed to study the effects of metastable ζ and γ hydrides on the nucleation and growth of the stable δ hydrides in α zirconium matrix.  Acta Materialia 123 (2017) 235-244 

Call for abstracts for the symposium on Martensitic Transformations in Non-Metallic Materials in the International Conference on Martensitic Transformations (ICOMAT) 2017.

Molecular dynamics (MD) is employed to investigate the plastic deformation mechanisms of single crystalline yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (YSTZ) nanopillars under uniaxial compression. Simulation results show that the nanoscale plastic deformation of YSTZ is strongly dependent on the crystallographic orientation of zirconia nanopillars. For the first time, the experimental explored tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation is reproduced by MD simulations in some particular loading directions.

A postdoc position is available in Nano/Micro Scale Computational Simulations of Oxidation, Phase Transformation and Stress Corrosion Cracking.

Two PhD positions are available immediately in Computational Mechanics & Materials.

One project (NSF grant) is about multi-phase field modeling of formation and evolution of intermetallics and oxides at high temperatures in advanced high strength steels. Another project (NSF grant) is about multi-phase field modeling of evolution of oxide bifilms in solidification of metals. 

This work aims to comprehensively study the anisotropy of the hexagonal close-packed (HCP)-liquid interface free energy using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on the modified-embedded atom method (MEAM). As a case study, all the simulations are performed for Magnesium (Mg). The solid-liquid coexisting approach is used to accurately calculate the melting point and melting properties. Then, the capillary fluctuation method (CFM) is used to determine the HCP-liquid interface free energy and anisotropy parameters.