Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar

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Laser, as a powerful tool with intriguing thermal and optical effects, will bring new opportunities to manufacture materials that are difficult to engineer in nano/micro scale, including refractory metal, alloy and carbides. By precursor engineering, we developed a large-scale, cost-effective direct pattern method to manufacture 3D ultrathin transition metal carbide structures with hierarchical nano-micro porous structures. Besides high energy storage capability and exceptional high thermal resilience of laser-induced carbide, the 3D structured carbide can tune the optical and transport properties by engineering the pore distribution. Laser printing process also enable the integration of functional carbide on stretchable and foolable structure such as paper origami which greatly broadens their application in sensors and wearable electronics. With the help of atomic scale simulation of laser induced chemistry and Multiphysics, we can design the laser engineering process to empower old materials with new opportunities. For example, using laser annealing process as a variable and scalable tool, we transform natural carbonaceous (coal, tar, pitch) as a toolbox for target carbon product with highly tunable crystalline structures from amorphous to graphitic and widely distributed electronics conductivities.