Faculty News

Professors Perepezko and Bradley Return from Sabbatical

John H. Perepezko and Fred J. Bradley are back on campus after completing their respective sabbaticals. Professor Perepezko returned from Germany after spending the summer and fall semesters of 1996-97 working in the Metals Research Institute with Professor Dr. H. J. Fecht at the Technische UniversitĠt-Berlin. Supported by a Forschungspreise Award from the Alexander von Humbolt Foundation, Perepezko worked with Professor Fecht and his colleagues on studies of bulk metallic glass alloys. These substances are multi-component alloys (at least ternary and usually quinary) containing Zr, Al, Ni, Cu, and Co. They can be cast in the amorphous state in large volumes with a thickness of several centimeters and at low cooling rates (e.g. 10° C/sec). These alloys have a number of interesting and unusual properties such as outstanding resistance to corrosion, low coefficient of friction and high thermal stability. These properties make them attractive alloys for a variety of possible applications including structural materials, coatings and components in joining.

In addition to his work in Berlin, Perepezko also traveled to conferences and other Institutes. Perepezko presented a keynote paper at the Ninth International Conference on Rapidly Quenched and Metastable Materials. Two of his graduate students, Don Allen and Jim Foley, also attended. Perepezko presented seminars at a number of universities including Darmstadt, Saarbrücken, Dortmund and Bremen. He visited one of Germany's leading centers for electron microscopy, the Max Planck Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik in Halle and presented seminars during his extended visits at the Max Planck Institut für Metalforschung in Stuttgart and the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft-umd Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Research) in Köln.

Associate Professor Fred J. Bradley returned to campus in May 1996 after 17 months of sabbatical leave. During the first five months, he initiated research as part of an NSF Engineering Faculty Internship Grant and began a new experimental research program at the John Deere Foundry in Waterloo, Iowa. The project at the foundry was to develop a model-based expert system to be used for casting design and for assessing product manufacturability. Bradley worked closely with foundry personnel to design the system and to implement a prototype version in Microsoft Access.

As part of his sabbatical, Bradley also worked on a research project using a novel oxygen probe developed by one of the sponsors of the UW-Madison Cast Iron Research Consortium to assess the quality of molten metal.

In addition, Bradley also spent time modifying and refining two new computer-based problem-solving courses for undergraduates.

Professor Kou's New Book Fills Void, Sells Well

Professor Sindo Kou's second book, Transport Phenomena and Materials Processing, published by John Wiley & Sons in November 1996 sold out by January 1997 and has been scheduled for a second print run. The book's success is a result, no doubt, of Professor Sou's on-target assessment of a void in the engineering text book market.

The first section of the book is an easy-to-follow introduction to transport phenomena written for materials engineering students. The second section, designed for the increasing number of mechanical and chemical engineers moving into materials processing, explains the applications of transport phenomena in materials processing.

We congratulate Professor Kou on the success of his book and thank him for this important contribution to materials science and engineering education.

National Academy of Engineering Inducts Y. Austin Chang

Y. Austin Chang (37K JPG)

Professor Y. Austin Chang has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Founded in 1964, the NAE is a private, honorary organization whose members are elected based on their contributions to the field of engineering. Election to the academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer. Membership honors those who have made "important contributions to engineering theory and practice" and who have demonstrated "unusual accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology." Chang is the 13th UW-Madison faculty member to receive the honor.

Professor Chang has made seminal contributions in thermodynamic modeling/phase diagram calculations and pioneered applications of principles of thermodynamics and kinetics of multi-component systems to numerous materials problems ranging from extraction and refining to electronic materials. He has also made advances in the design of alloy/intermetallic contacts to III-V semiconductors and their alloys for Schottky and ohmic behavior, and in the design of interfaces in structural composites. In addition, he is recognized for his work in the integration of phase diagram calculations with kinetic models to predict the paths of solidification of multi-component alloys, and for his research on synthesizing composites in-situ using solid-state reactions.

Chang received his Ph.D. in metallurgy from the University of California-Berkeley in 1963, and joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1980. The results of his research have appeared in more than 300 publications, including four books, more than 210 contributed papers on original research, and numerous book chapters and proceedings.

Professor Chang is also the recipient of many other honors including the William Hume-Rothery Award of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher Award, Champion H. Mathewson and Educator Award (TMS), and the College of Engineering's Byron Bird Award for excellence in research publication.

Being selected for membership in the NAE is a high honor and we congratulate Professor Chang on this noteworthy achievement.

Larbalestier Named Grainger Professor

David C. Larbalestier (19K JPG)

Professor David C. Larbalestier has been named a Grainger Professor of Superconductivity. Funded by the Grainger Foundation of Skokie, Illinois, the professorship is named after David W. Grainger, a 1950 College of Engineering graduate. David W. Grainger is president of the Grainger Foundation and chairman of the board of the W. W. Grainger Co., a nationwide distributor and manufacturer of electric motors and other products.

Larbalestier has worked all his scientific career on understanding the way that the microstructure controls the properties of superconductors. His group has made major contributions to the science and engineering practice of both low- and high-temperature superconductors. His graduates are placed throughout the superconductivity community, worldwide. He directs the college's Applied Superconductivity Center.