Extreme mechanics and manufacturing of materials across scales

Guest Speaker：Assoc. Prof. Yu Zou, University of Toronto,Canada

Inviter: Prof. Jia Pei

Date&Time: Monday, 9th June, 14:00-15:30

Venue: Yiucheng Lecture Hall (500), Xu Zuyao Building

Biography:

Dr. Yu Zou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at the University of Toronto (U of T). He is also the Canada Research Chair in Materials and Manufacturing for Extreme Environments. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He received his Ph.D., Master’s, and bachelor’s degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from ETH Zurich, McGill University, and Beihang University, respectively. His group uses novel experimental tools to explore mechanical behaviour and additive manufacturing of materials under extreme conditions, particularly for metallic materials. His research themes can be summarized as 4Ms - metals, mechanics, manufacturing, and machine learning, covering many length and time scales, to advance the fields of vital importance to society. Dr. Zou has garnered several awards in the materials community, including the 2025 TMS Frontiers of Materials Award, the 2022 TMS Early Career Faculty Fellow Award, and the 2020 JMR Early Career Scholars Prize. His papers are published in leading international journals, including Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, Advanced Materials, Materials Today, and Additive Manufacturing.

Abstract:

Innovations in material development and manufacturing processes for extreme conditions are necessary and urgent for many emerging applications. Towards this vision, my seminar will focus on the exploration of mechanical behavior and manufacturing processes of materials, with an emphasis on metals and ceramics, across many length- and time-scales, including the following topics: (i) Controlling dislocation motion in semiconductors using a high electric field or illumination; (ii) Design of high-strength and thermal stability of nanostructured high-entropy alloys; (iii) additive manufacturing of titanium alloys and high-entropy alloys.