Faculty News

Researchers at the University of North Texas are on the verge of revolutionizing the construction industry by developing natural alternatives to fiberglass and other popular, non-biodegradable building materials.

Four UNT researchers recently received almost $600,000 to develop sustainable, energy-efficient and multifunctional bioproducts for construction purposes from the National Science Foundation's Partnership for Innovation program. The program connects researchers and small businesses in an effort to transform knowledge created by academic research into innovative solutions for the real world.

UNT will work with InnoVida Southeast in Miami, Fla., and Ladonia Market Center (LMC) in Ladonia, Texas, to develop composite panels that use plant fibers in the place of glass fibers. The UNT team will be led by Dr. Nandika D'Souza, professor of Materials Science and Engineering, who will oversee the design and creation of the new materials. The composite materials could be used for construction, cars and aircraft and for a number of other uses. Currently, 3 to 5 billion pounds of fiberglass are produced annually.

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NSF awarded MTSE faculty members to study solid state lubricant

Dr. Thomas Scharf and Dr. Jincheng Du have received a National Science Foundation (NSF) award to study solid state lubricants under extreme conditions. The award provides total support of $282,079 for three years to investigate critical issues of solid state lubricants by combining state of the art experimental and computational research efforts. These issues include how changes to the structure and defect chemistry of solid oxide lubricants can influence their high temperature properties. The award will involve both graduate and undergraduate researchers that utilize the CART characterization facilities and UNT Talon and Eagle high performance computer facilities.

For more details visit http://web3.unt.edu/news/story.cfm?story=12212

		On June 29th, 2011, Dr. Peter Collins (Site Director) received notification that The National Science Foundation has decided to fund a Industrial/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) between the Colorado School of Mines and the University of North Texas on the subject of "Advanced Non-Ferrous Structural Alloys". This Center will combine faculty expertise at both universities, along with expertise from the industrial participants to address the physical metallurgy of non-ferrous alloys.  This will focus on the effects that alloying and processing have on the resulting microstructure of the materials, their properties and performance.  Given the focus on impacting the industrial partners in the short-term, I/UCRC's such as this new Center are relatively unique in that they seek to integrating the state-of-the-art science conducted at institutions such as UNT into meaningful tools and results that can be used quickly.  The motivation to launch this center stems from a real need to address the historical decline in funding for non-ferrous physical metallurgy research, resulting in negative impacts on these industries that are an essential element of the Nation's technological and economic health.  This Center will be well aligned with other activities in the Department, and will help UNT continue to establish national and international visibility as one of a few universities that educates students in the relevant areas of physical metallurgy.  The Center will engage many faculty and students in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UNT, including (in addition to Collins), Drs. Banerjee, Dahotre, Needleman, Srivilliputhur, and Wang.  Both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in research programs selected by the industrial sponsors.

Dr. Narendra Dahotre, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, recently co-authored a book entitled Laser Machining of Advanced Materials (far left). The book was published in March, 2011 by CRC Press of Taylor & Francis Group. It is a hardcover book covering several advantages of laser machining such as capabilities for machining the materials that are difficult to machine otherwise. It focuses on the underlying physical phenomena with special emphasis on the fundamental principles of this interesting and emerging process for machining of advanced materials. The book is intended as a useful resource for senior undergraduate and graduate students in materials science and manufacturing and research source for scientists and engineers. The book’s co-author is Dr. Anoop Samant of the University of Arkansas. Earlier, Professor Dahotre has written two additional books: Laser Machining and Fabrication of Materials (Springer, 2007) and Materials Science in Manufacturing (Academic/Elsevier Press, 2006).

Congratulations to Dr. Alan Needleman who recently received the 2011 Timoshenko Medal! The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) annually bestows this award to an individual "in recognition of distinguished contributions to the field of applied mechanics." The Timoshenko Medal is widely regarded as the highest international award in the field. Several prior winners of this medal are world renowned researchers and teachers including the first Medalist, Stephen P. Timoshenko, in 1957. Like the Medalists before him, Dr. Needleman will be invited to ASME's Applied Mechanics Dinner during the winter annual meeting to deliver a lecture. You can view past lectures at the Timoshenko Lecture Project. We are extremely proud of Dr. Needleman and this honor to him provides tremendous visibility to our department and UNT. (Read More)

Dr. Thomas Scharf and co-authors have been named the 2011 recipients of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers' Al Sonntag Award for the researchers' paper on a novel nanocomposite coating. (Read More)

Dr. Nandika D'Souza has been featured on the Engineer Girl! website, along with other inspirational female engineers. Dr. D'Szoua tells girls, "Cultural and Gender differences enhance more than detract from a person’s potential. Don’t accept, suspect the motivations of those who ask you to limit what you want to do." (Read More)

Dr. Narendra Dahotre has received a new grant entitled, “Collaborative Research: Composite Surfacing of Amorphous Materials by Laser Interference” from the National Science Foundation at the level $208,868 for July 1. 2010 to June 30, 2013.  The project is a collaborative effort with Dr. Sandip Harimkar, Oklahoma State University who also has been separately funded at the level $188,521. The primary objective of this research proposal is to develop a new class of laser surface engineered amorphous materials characterized by enhanced ductility. The enhancement of the ductility of such amorphous materials is expected due to the formation of an array of periodic lines or spots of modified regions on the surface of amorphous material by laser interference nanopatterning. The major objectives of the proposed research are to: (1) design and test the innovative laser interference patterning process set-ups with a focus on creating nanostructured modifications on the surface of amorphous alloy; (2) identify the thermo-physical effects associated with the interaction of modulated laser intensity in laser interference pattern with amorphous surface; (3) characterize the evolution of modulated microstructure (associated with localized nanocrystallization), crystallization dynamics, and distribution of residual stresses in the composite surfaces; (4) establish the role of surface nanocrystallization and/or residual stresses on enhancing global plasticity of the amorphous materials; and (5) model the thermo-physical interactions associated with laser interference nanopatterning of amorphous material surfaces. The proposal provides an opportunity for graduate students to work on a novel processing method and advanced material.

The II-VI Foundation has awarded a gift of $100,000 to the Laboratory of Advanced Polymers & Optimized Materials (LAPOM), directed by Dr. Witold Brostow, which will go toward a project titled "Improvement of Effectiveness of Electric Power Generation." (Read More)

Dr. Narendra Dahotre, Professor and Chairman, has been elected as Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He will be inducted in the 2010 Class of Fellows later in the year at the SME headquarters in Detroit, Michigan along with five other electees. He has been recognized for the pioneering contributions to fundamental understanding and engineering of laser-materials interactions along with implementation of high power lasers in materials processing and surface engineering. He is internationally known for his work on fundamentals and applications of laser surface engineering of metals, ceramics, polymers and composites. His work over 25 years on laser materials-interactions has been compiled in four books, 15 U.S. Patents, 11 proceedings and over 200 papers. Earlier, has also been elected to 2009 Class of AAAS Fellows, 2008 Class of ASME Fellows, 2008 Class of IIM Fellows and 2004 Class of ASM  Follows. He has received 2006 R&D 100 Award, 2006 University of Tennessee Chancellor’s Research and Creativity Achievement Award, 2006 University of Tennessee College of Engineering Research Fellow Award. (Read More)

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