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SUMMARY:Mechanics and Design of Next-Generation Protective Overlayers for 
 Extreme Environments - Dr Isha Gupta\, University of Southampton
DTSTART:20241018T130000Z
DTEND:20241018T140000Z
UID:TALK222130@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:46601
DESCRIPTION:Emerging aerospace and clean energy technologies will subject 
 materials to extreme operating conditions\, e.g.\, severe thermomechanical
  loads\, which drive creep and thermal fatigue\, as well as highly reactiv
 e environments\, which drive chemical attack. To survive in these environm
 ents\, structural materials rely on protective overlayers\, either in the 
 form of oxide layers grown in situ or advanced coatings applied ex situ. S
 ince overlayer durability governs service life and operability\, a mechani
 stic understanding of their failure is critical to safe operation and to d
 evelop more robust overlayers which unlock enhanced system-level performan
 ce. This talk will highlight strategies to design such failure-resistant p
 rotective overlayers by leveraging fundamental mechanics\, experiments\, a
 nd novel multiphysics theories. The first part of the talk will focus on t
 he physics-based modelling of anomalous periodic failure of oxide layers f
 ormed on zirconium alloys in nuclear reactors. Failure of the oxide accele
 rates hydrogen embrittlement and ultimately limits the fuel burn-up in the
  reactor. By developing a mechanistic model of stresses and integrating it
  with Turing’s reaction-diffusion theory of pattern formation\, the resu
 lts reveal a stress-driven chemical interaction as the mechanism behind th
 is detrimental anomaly\, thus providing guidelines for the design of alloy
  chemistry against failure. Next part of the talk will focus on a novel du
 ctile phase-reinforced environmental barrier coating (EBC) to mitigate met
 al fires in reusable staged combustion rocket engines. A key challenge for
  coatings in rocket engine applications is delamination from thermal shock
 s during startup and shutdown. Using a combination of experiments and dela
 mination theory\, our results show that crack-bridging by an interpenetrat
 ing composite architecture imparts sufficient toughness to resist delamina
 tion even under the most aggressive thermal transients. Finally\, the talk
  will conclude with a perspective on a chemo-thermo-mechanics framework to
  guide the development of high-performance alloys and protective coatings 
 for extreme environments.
LOCATION:Oatley 1 Meeting Room\, Department of Engineering
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