Armour College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering will welcome Dr. Dongyang Li (D.Y. Li), Professor, Faculty of Engineering – Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta, to present a lecture, “Explore the application of electron work function as an indicative or “genetic” parameter for material design.” The seminar will take place on September 21 from 3:15–4:30 p.m., in John T. Rettaliata Engineering Center (RE) Room 104.

Explore the application of electron work function as an indicative or “genetic” parameter for material design

D.Y. Li
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2H5

Abstract: With rapid advance in material technology, material design has been required to rely on more fundamental principles. Various properties of engineering materials are largely governed by their electron behaviour, which determines the atomic bond strength and system’s stability. Significant effort has long been made to correlate properties of materials to their electron state based on quantum mechanics. However, quantum theories are complicated and unfeasible for material design, especially for structural materials which consist of various phases and imperfections. Thus, it is highly wished to have simple but fundamental parameters, which reflect the electron behaviour of materials, for material analysis and design. In this talk, electron work function (EWF), which is the minimum energy to move electrons at Fermi level inside a metal to its surface, is demonstrated to be a promising indicative parameter carrying “genetic” information for analyzing materials and providing clues for guiding material design and modification. Correlations between EWF and mechanical, electrochemical and tribological properties of structural materials will be demonstrated. The development of a EWF-based new material design methodology or framework towards “electronic metallurgy” will be discussed.

Biography: Dr. Dongyang Li (D.Y. Li) is a Professor at Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta. He received a B.Sc. in Solid Mechanics from University of Science and Technology China, a M.Sc. in Solid-State Physics from Sun Yat-sen University, a PhD in Materials Physics from University of Science and Technology Beijing, and a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from McGill University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Pennsylvania State University before joining University of Alberta in 1998. Dr. Li is on the editorial board for nineteen journals and is the recipient of MetSoc 2020 Distinguished Materials Scientist Award. Dr. Li has in excess of 400 technical publications, including 370 journal publications. He is an invited contributor for authoritative handbooks (Elsevier, Springer, and ASM International). Dr. Li is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3, UK) and Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP, UK).