Valery I Levitas | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Mechanics and material scientist, academic and author |
Academic background | |
Education | M.S., Mechanical Engineering PHD, Materials Science and Engineering D.Sc., Continuum Mechanics Habilitation in Continuum Mechanics |
Alma mater | Kiev Polytechnic Institute Institute for Superhard Materials |
Thesis | Simulation of Materials Plastic Flow at High Pressure (1981) Large Elastoplastic Deformation of Materials at High Pressure (1988) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Iowa State University |
Valery I Levitas is a Ukrainian mechanics and material scientist,academic and author. He is an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor and Murray Harpole Chair in Engineering at Iowa State University [1] and was a faculty scientist at the Ames National Laboratory. [2]
Levitas is most known for his works on the mechanics of materials,stress and strain-induced phase transformations and chemical reactions. Among his authored works are his publications in academic journals,including Science, Nature Communications , Nano Letters [3] as well as monographs such as Large Deformation of Materials with Complex Rheological Properties at Normal and High Pressure. [4] He is the recipient of the 2018 Khan International Award for outstanding contributions to the field of plasticity. [5]
Levitas earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1978,followed by a PHD in Materials Science and Engineering from the Institute for Superhard Materials in 1981. In 1988,he completed a Doctor of Science degree in Continuum Mechanics from the Institute of Electronic Machine Building. Furthermore,in 1995,he obtained his Doctor-Engineer habilitation in Continuum Mechanics from the University of Hannover. [1]
Levitas commenced his academic journey in 1978 at the Institute for Superhard Materials of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev. From 1978 to 1981,he served as an engineer and then as a junior researcher from 1981 to 1984. During his tenure at the institute,he led a research group consisting of researchers and students from 1982 to 1994. Simultaneously,he held the positions of senior researcher from 1984 to 1988 and leading researcher from 1989 to 1994. Additionally,he founded the private research firm,Strength,in 1988. Since 1993 he was a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Institute of Structural and Computational Mechanics at the University of Hannover,serving until 1995. From 1995 to 1999,he continued at the same institution as a research and visiting professor. In 1999,he transitioned to Texas Tech University,where he was an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering until 2002,and then a professor until 2008. He was also the Founding Director of the Center for Mechanochemistry and Synthesis of New Materials from 2002 till 2007. From 2008 to 2017,he served as the Schafer 2050 Challenge Professor in both the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University. [1] Between 2017 and 2023,he was the Vance Coffman Faculty Chair Professor in Aerospace Engineering,and since 2023 the Murray Harpole Chair in Engineering. Moreover,he has been the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering since 2018,all at the same Departments. In addition,he has served as a faculty scientist at the Ames National Laboratory within the US Department of Energy from 2008 to 2023. [2]
Levitas' research has focused on the interplay between plasticity and phase transformations across various scales through the creation of various methodologies. [6] [7] He pioneered the field of theoretical high-pressure mechanochemistry [8] through the development of a comprehensive four-scale theory and simulations [7] spanning from the first principle [9] and molecular dynamics [10] to nano- and microscale phase-field approaches [11] [12] and macroscale treatment. [13] His work includes coupling theoretical frameworks with quantitative in-situ experiments using synchrotron radiation facilities to investigate phase transformations and plastic flow in various materials under high pressure and large deformations. [10] [11] These efforts resulted in the identification of novel phenomena and phases,methods for controlling phase transformations,and the search for new high-pressure materials. Additionally,his research has contributed to the determination of material properties such as transformational,structural,deformational,and frictional characteristics from high throughput heterogeneous sample fields. [14] [15] His research team discovered and harnessed the phenomenon of "rotational plastic instability" to lower the required pressure for producing superhard cubic BN,reducing it from 55 to 5.6GPa. [16] In addition,their theoretical insights enabled a reduction in the transformation pressure from graphite to diamond,dropping it from 70 to 0.7GPa through shear-induced plasticity. [17] Moreover,his team unveiled a new amorphous phase of SiC, [18] the self-blow-up phase transformation-induced plasticity-heating process explaining deep-focus earthquakes, [19] the pressure self-focusing effect, [20] virtual melting at temperatures up to 5000K below melting point as a novel mechanism of solid phase transformation,stress relaxation,and plastic flow. [21] Furthermore,his group introduced a mechanochemical melt dispersion mechanism to explain unusual phenomena in the combustion of Al particles at nano and micro scales,proposing significant advancements in particle synthesis,including the creation of prestressed particles,to enhance their energetic performance. [22] He also advanced phase field approach to various phase transformations,dislocation evolution,fracture,surface-induced phenomena,and their interaction by introducing advanced mechanics,large-strain formulation,strict requirements,and extending to larger sample scale. [6] [11] [12]
Levitas holds patents to 11 different inventions. They are mostly related to the development of high-pressure apparatuses for diamond synthesis and physical studies. They include a rotational diamond anvil cell. [23]
Rheology is the study of the flow of matter,primarily in a fluid state,but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force. Rheology is a branch of physics,and it is the science that deals with the deformation and flow of materials,both solids and liquids.
Metallic hydrogen is a phase of hydrogen in which it behaves like an electrical conductor. This phase was predicted in 1935 on theoretical grounds by Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington.
A diamond anvil cell (DAC) is a high-pressure device used in geology,engineering,and materials science experiments. It enables the compression of a small (sub-millimeter-sized) piece of material to extreme pressures,typically up to around 100–200 gigapascals,although it is possible to achieve pressures up to 770 gigapascals.
A superhard material is a material with a hardness value exceeding 40 gigapascals (GPa) when measured by the Vickers hardness test. They are virtually incompressible solids with high electron density and high bond covalency. As a result of their unique properties,these materials are of great interest in many industrial areas including,but not limited to,abrasives,polishing and cutting tools,disc brakes,and wear-resistant and protective coatings.
Diamond is the allotrope of carbon in which the carbon atoms are arranged in the specific type of cubic lattice called diamond cubic. It is a crystal that is transparent to opaque and which is generally isotropic. Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring material known. Yet,due to important structural brittleness,bulk diamond's toughness is only fair to good. The precise tensile strength of bulk diamond is little known;however,compressive strength up to 60 GPa has been observed,and it could be as high as 90–100 GPa in the form of micro/nanometer-sized wires or needles,with a corresponding maximum tensile elastic strain in excess of 9%. The anisotropy of diamond hardness is carefully considered during diamond cutting. Diamond has a high refractive index (2.417) and moderate dispersion (0.044) properties that give cut diamonds their brilliance. Scientists classify diamonds into four main types according to the nature of crystallographic defects present. Trace impurities substitutionally replacing carbon atoms in a diamond's crystal structure,and in some cases structural defects,are responsible for the wide range of colors seen in diamond. Most diamonds are electrical insulators and extremely efficient thermal conductors. Unlike many other minerals,the specific gravity of diamond crystals (3.52) has rather small variation from diamond to diamond.
In materials science,shear modulus or modulus of rigidity,denoted by G,or sometimes S or μ,is a measure of the elastic shear stiffness of a material and is defined as the ratio of shear stress to the shear strain:
In materials science,hardness is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation,such as an indentation or a scratch (linear),induced mechanically either by pressing or abrasion. In general,different materials differ in their hardness;for example hard metals such as titanium and beryllium are harder than soft metals such as sodium and metallic tin,or wood and common plastics. Macroscopic hardness is generally characterized by strong intermolecular bonds,but the behavior of solid materials under force is complex;therefore,hardness can be measured in different ways,such as scratch hardness,indentation hardness,and rebound hardness. Hardness is dependent on ductility,elastic stiffness,plasticity,strain,strength,toughness,viscoelasticity,and viscosity. Common examples of hard matter are ceramics,concrete,certain metals,and superhard materials,which can be contrasted with soft matter.
A shear band is a narrow zone of intense shearing strain,usually of plastic nature,developing during severe deformation of ductile materials. As an example,a soil specimen is shown in Fig. 1,after an axialsymmetric compression test. Initially the sample was cylindrical in shape and,since symmetry was tried to be preserved during the test,the cylindrical shape was maintained for a while during the test and the deformation was homogeneous,but at extreme loading two X-shaped shear bands had formed and the subsequent deformation was strongly localized.
Pseudoelasticity,sometimes called superelasticity,is an elastic (reversible) response to an applied stress,caused by a phase transformation between the austenitic and martensitic phases of a crystal. It is exhibited in shape-memory alloys.
Natalia Dubrovinskaia is a Swedish geologist of Russian origin.
In geology,a deformation mechanism is a process occurring at a microscopic scale that is responsible for changes in a material's internal structure,shape and volume. The process involves planar discontinuity and/or displacement of atoms from their original position within a crystal lattice structure. These small changes are preserved in various microstructures of materials such as rocks,metals and plastics,and can be studied in depth using optical or digital microscopy.
The mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes reveal them as one of the strongest materials in nature. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are long hollow cylinders of graphene. Although graphene sheets have 2D symmetry,carbon nanotubes by geometry have different properties in axial and radial directions. It has been shown that CNTs are very strong in the axial direction. Young's modulus on the order of 270 - 950 GPa and tensile strength of 11 - 63 GPa were obtained.
Boron can be prepared in several crystalline and amorphous forms. Well known crystalline forms are α-rhombohedral (α-R),β-rhombohedral (β-R),and β-tetragonal (β-T). In special circumstances,boron can also be synthesized in the form of its α-tetragonal (α-T) and γ-orthorhombic (γ) allotropes. Two amorphous forms,one a finely divided powder and the other a glassy solid,are also known. Although at least 14 more allotropes have been reported,these other forms are based on tenuous evidence or have not been experimentally confirmed,or are thought to represent mixed allotropes,or boron frameworks stabilized by impurities. Whereas the β-rhombohedral phase is the most stable and the others are metastable,the transformation rate is negligible at room temperature,and thus all five phases can exist at ambient conditions. Amorphous powder boron and polycrystalline β-rhombohedral boron are the most common forms. The latter allotrope is a very hard grey material,about ten percent lighter than aluminium and with a melting point (2080 °C) several hundred degrees higher than that of steel.
Superdense carbon allotropes are proposed configurations of carbon atoms that result in a stable material with a higher density than diamond.
Crack closure is a phenomenon in fatigue loading,where the opposing faces of a crack remain in contact even with an external load acting on the material. As the load is increased,a critical value will be reached at which time the crack becomes open. Crack closure occurs from the presence of material propping open the crack faces and can arise from many sources including plastic deformation or phase transformation during crack propagation,corrosion of crack surfaces,presence of fluids in the crack,or roughness at cracked surfaces.
Iron tetraboride (FeB4) is a superhard superconductor (Tc <3K) consisting of iron and boron. Iron tetraboride does not occur in nature and can be created synthetically. Its molecular structure was predicted using computer models.
In materials science,toughening refers to the process of making a material more resistant to the propagation of cracks. When a crack propagates,the associated irreversible work in different materials classes is different. Thus,the most effective toughening mechanisms differ among different materials classes. The crack tip plasticity is important in toughening of metals and long-chain polymers. Ceramics have limited crack tip plasticity and primarily rely on different toughening mechanisms.
Dislocation avalanches are rapid discrete events during plastic deformation,in which defects are reorganized collectively. This intermittent flow behavior has been observed in microcrystals,whereas macroscopic plasticity appears as a smooth process. Intermittent plastic flow has been observed in several different systems. In AlMg Alloys,interaction between solute and dislocations can cause sudden jump during dynamic strain aging. In metallic glass,it can be observed via shear banding with stress localization;and single crystal plasticity,it shows up as slip burst. However,analysis of the events with orders-magnitude difference in sizes with different crystallographic structure reveals power-law scaling between the number of events and their magnitude,or scale-free flow.
In continuum mechanics,ratcheting,or ratchetting,also known as cyclic creep,is a behavior in which plastic deformation accumulates due to cyclic mechanical or thermal stress.
Metallization pressure is the pressure required for a non-metallic chemical element to become a metal. Every material is predicted to turn into a metal if the pressure is high enough,and temperature low enough. Some of these pressures are beyond the reach of diamond anvil cells,and are thus theoretical predictions. Neon has the highest metallization pressure for any element.