Faculty - Materials Science & Engineering

Research Interests

My research interests include hydrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, corrosion, and materials synthesis. I have worked on a variety of research projects involving metals extraction, separation, recovery, and refining as well as corrosion, materials synthesis, and additive manufacturing. The hydrometallurgy and electrometallurgy research projects have focused on copper, gold, titanium, rare earth elements, and critical metals. The corrosion investigations have involved steel, aluminum, and additively manufactured alloys.
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Research Interest

My research is in electronic materials, low-dimensional, heterostructures, and nanostructured semiconductors. The main focus of my work is on heat dissipation in nanoelectronics, nanoscale heat transport, and the coupling between electronic and thermal transport in electronic materials. These properties are especially important in two-dimensional materials such as graphene or molybdenum disulfide, where van der Waals stacking of heterogenous layers enables new properties but leads to poor interface conductance. I am also interested in the reverse problem of thermoelectric energy conversion for applications in scavenging waste heat. There, I study thermoelectric conversion in organic materials, which offer environmentally-friendly synthesis but their amorphous structure inhibits electronic transport. Using first-principles computational tools, my group sheds light on the mapping between atomic and mesoscale structure and electro-thermal transport.

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Research Interests

Research interests cut across physical metallurgy, powder metallurgy, and extractive metallurgy. Research focuses on developing metals production and manufacturing processes to achieve exceptional properties, sustainability, and cost effectiveness. One major research area involves primary Ti metal production, Ti powder production, Ti sintering, Ti additive manufacturing, and the relationship between Ti alloy microstructure and mechanical properties. Another new major research thrust is using advanced powder metallurgy processes for the production of clean steel and products with no or low GHG emissions and reduced energy intensity. Prof. Fang’s interest also covers a range of additive manufacturing processes. The Center for Additive Manufacturing within the Powder Metallurgy Laboratory is equipped with an LPBF machine, a direct energy deposition (DED) machine, a metals binder jetting printer, and a lithograph-based metals manufacturing process. Professor Fang is also a globally recognized expert in cemented tungsten carbide, tungsten, and other refractory metals. Prof Fang is also an active expert on metal hydrides for hydrogen and thermal energy storage.

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the materials modeling and simulation from the atomic to mesoscopic scales. We develop and apply both first-principles computational methods and phenomenological theoretical models to study a wide spectrum of materials properties in various materials systems. Most recently, we have focused on modeling and simulation of properties of surfaces and interfaces, growth mechanisms of thin films, and self-assembly and self-organization of nanostructures.
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