Dr S. Suresh Babu, University of Tennessee
Governor’s Chair for Advanced Manufacturing, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Seminar held in ETRL 101. Refreshments served in ETRL 119 at 10:30 a.m.
Everone is encouraged to attend!
Title
Metal Additive Manufacturing: Towards Qualification through In-Situ Process Control, Ex-Situ Characterization and High-Performance Computational Process Modeling
Abstract
Additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) of materials is considered as a disruptive technology to produce limited number of high value components with topologically optimized geometries and functionalities. Realization of the above potential for real-world applications is stifled by lack of qualification tools across the whole process flow. The qualification steps include computational design-tools; material characteristics, methods to probe thermo-mechanical processes under in-situ conditions, and microstructural homogeneity, as well as, anisotropic static- and dynamic-properties. This presentation will discuss the needed interdisciplinary science and technology to address these challenges. Specific focus on understanding and controlling physical processes will be stressed, including powder/wire/tape, powder sintering, adsorption and dissolution of gases, microstructure evolution under extreme thermal gradients, and residual stress evolution under complex thermal gyrations. Two case studies will be discussed that demonstrates the need for the interdisciplinary expertise to accelerate the adopting additive manufacturing. Emerging pathways to scale up metal additive manufacturing to large sizes (>1 m) and higher productivity (5 to 20 kg/h), while maintaining the mechanical performance and geometrical flexibility will be discussed.
Biography
Dr. Babu obtained his bachelors degree in metallurgical engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, INDIA and his master’s degree in industrial welding metallurgy-materials joining from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He obtained his PhD in materials science and metallurgy from University of Cambridge, UK in 1992. He also worked as a research associate in the prestigious Institute for Materials Research, Sendai, Japan before joining ORNL in 1993. From 1993 to 1997, he held joint researcher position with ORNL, University of Tennessee and The Penn State University. From 1997 to 2005, he worked as an R&D staff at ORNL. From 2005 to 2007, Suresh held a senior level technology leader position in the area of engineering and materials at Edison Welding Institute, Columbus, Ohio. From 2007 to 2013, Suresh served as Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of NSF I/UCRC Center for Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications, at The Ohio State University. In 2013, Suresh was appointed as UT/ORNL Governor’s chair of advanced manufacturing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. In this role he acts as a bridge to the ORNL’s expertise and infrastructure including manufacturing demonstration facility to develop a collaborative research and education ecosystem locally and deploy engineering solutions to manufacturing industries. Dr. Babu has published 180 journal papers and numerous conference proceedings. He has received many awards in recognition of his technical and leadership service to the materials and manufacturing community. He is a fellow of AAAS, ASM International and AWS.
In the last three years, Suresh has been instrumental and part of the team in securing UTK and ORNL’s leadership in NSF and Presidential initiatives related to national network of manufacturing innovation institutes. With his ability to foster collaborative activities with ORNL associates and UTK faculty, UTK has secured the following projects: NSF/IUCRC center for materials and manufacturing, Powder processing pillar of lightweight innovation for future (LIFT), and Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation Institute (IACMI).
