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Research

Research Experience

        Undergraduate Research Assistant, Apr 2007 ~ June 2008

        Dr. Jia Zhou’s Research Group, Fudan University,                                                        Shanghai, China.

  • Project of “Full Integrated Biosensor Based on Silicon” (PI: Dr. Jia Zhou).

  • Designed and fabricated PDMS transparent micro channels compatible with IC technology; performed processing techniques includes RIE, PVD, wet-etching & photo-etching methods, surface profilometer, and SEM; studied PDMS-PDMS and PDMS-Glass bonding conditions & measured their bonding strength; proposed a new idea of using nitrogen to enhance PDMS-PDMS bonding  strength.

        Associate Professor, July 2017 ~ Present

        State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, School of                                      Materials  Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong                                    University, Shanghai, China.

  • Thousands Talented Plan Young Professional Program project of “In situ observation of synthesis and deformation mechanisms in metal matrix composites” 2017~2023 (PI: Dr. Yue Liu).

  • Advanced synthesis and characterization of metal matrix composites, with special emphasis on thin film coatings by physical and chemical vapor deposition techniques, and in situ electron microscope characterization.

              

            

         Graduate Research Assistant / Postdoctoral Fellow, May                                      2009~ Oct 2014

        Dr. Xinghang Zhang’s Research Group, Texas A&M                                                    University,  College Station, TX.

  • NSF project of “Synthesis, Microstructure, and Mechanical Behavior of Metallic Thin Films with Nanoscale Growth Twins” 2007~2012 (PI: Dr. Xinghang Zhang).

  • NSF project of “Novel Magnetic Shape Memory Alloy Thin Films for Sensor and Actuator Applications” 2011~2014 (PI: Dr. Xinghang Zhang)

  • NSF project of “Friction and plasticity of amorphous metal coatings” 2012~2015 (PI: Dr. Xinghang Zhang)

  • Fabricated thin film coatings by magnetron sputtering and pulsed laser deposition techniques; performed microstructure characterization using FIB, XRD, SEM, TEM, STEM, HRTEM; measured mechanical or physical properties by nanoindentation, PPMS; analyzed formation and strengthening mechanisms of twin boundaries, stacking faults, and layer interfaces in thin film coatings; studied microstructure evolution under stress in various structural and functional materials by in situ nanoindentation in TEM.                                 

        Postdoctoral Researcher, Oct 2014 ~ June 2017

        MST-8, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.

  • DOE-BES project of “A multiscale study of the role of shear-transformations on the deformation behavior of materials” 2014~2017 (PI: Dr. Carlos N. Tomé).

  • Investigated subdomain defect (dislocation, twin, martensite, etc) nucleation, growth, and interactions in hexagonal closed packed (HCP) metals, twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steels, and transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels by in situ nanoindentation in TEM/SEM with aided from FIB, XRD, EBSD, STEM, and HRTEM.

Selected Projects

 Research direction 1（研究方向一）: Preparation and interface control of functional metal matrix composite film materials

（功能金属基复合薄膜材料制备及界面调控）

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（1）  M. Yang, Y. Liu, T. Fan, D. Zhang, “Metal-graphene interfaces in epitaxial and bulk systems: A review” Progress in Materials Science, 110 (2020) 100652.

（2）  Y. Liu, K.M. Yang, J. Hay, E.G. Fu, X. Zhang, “The effect of coherent interface on strain rate sensitivity of highly textured Cu/Ni and Cu/V multilayers” Scripta Materialia, 162 (2019) 33-37.

（3）  H. Zhang, J. Zhang, Y. Liu, F. Zhang, T.X. Fan, D. Zhang, “Unveiling the interfacial configuration in diamond/Cu composites by using statistical analysis of metallized diamond surface” Scripta Materialia, 152 (2018), 84-88.

（4）  M. Yang, Y. Liu, H. Zhu, F. Zhang, T. Fan, D. Zhang, “Influences of Interfaces on Dynamic Recrystallization and Texture Evolution During Hot Rolling of Graphene Nanoribbon/Cu Composite” Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, 49 (2018) 6401-6415.

（5）  D. Bufford, Y.M. Wang, Y. Liu, L. Lu “Synthesis and microstructure of nanotwinned materials” MRS bulletin, 41 (April 2016) 286-291 (invited review)

（6）  Y. Liu, J. Hay, H. Wang, X. Zhang, “A new method for reliable determination of strain-rate sensitivity of low-dimensional metallic materials (Cu and Ni) by using nanoindentation” Scripta Materialia, 77 (2014) 5-8

（7）  Y. Liu, J. Jian, Y. Chen, H. Wang, X. Zhang, “Plasticity and ultra-low stress induced twin boundary migration in nanotwinned Cu by in situ nanoindentation studies” Applied Physics Letters, 104 (2014), 231910

（8）  Y. Liu, Y. Chen, K.Y. Yu, H. Wang, J. Chen, X. Zhang “Stacking fault and partial dislocation dominated strengthening mechanisms in highly textured Cu/Co multilayers” International Journal of Plasticity 49 (2013) 152-163

（9）  Y. Liu, D. Bufford, S. Rios, H. Wang, J. Chen, J. Y. Zhang, and X. Zhang, “A formation mechanism for ultra-thin nanotwins in highly textured Cu/Ni multilayers”, Journal of Applied Physics, 111 (2012) 073526

（10）Y. Liu, D. Bufford, H. Wang, C. Sun, X. Zhang, “Mechanical properties of highly textured Cu/Ni multilayers”, Acta Materialia, 59 (2011) 1924-1933

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 Research direction 2（研究方向二）: Material performance and intelligent prediction under complex and extreme service conditions

（复杂极端服役条件下材料性能及智能预测）

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（1）  J.S. Chen, Y. Liu, R.J. McCabe, J. Wang, C.N. Tomé, “Quantifying elastic strain near coherent twin interface in magnesium with nanometric resolution” Materials Characterization 160 (2020), 110082

（2）  Y. Liu, P.Z. Tang, M.Y. Gong, R.J. McCabe, J. Wang, and C.N. Tomé. “Three-dimensional character of the deformation twin in magnesium” Nature Communications, (2019) 10:3308

（3）  J.S. Chen, Y. Zhai, Y. Liu, T.X. Fan, “A new method to reliably determine elastic strain of various crystal structures from atomic-resolution images” Scientific Report, (2019) 9: 16399

（4）  M. Gong, S. Xu, Y. Jiang, Y. Liu, J. Wang, “Structural Characteristics of {1 0 -1 2} Non-cozone Twin-Twin Interactions in Magnesium” Acta Materialia, 159 (2018) 64-76.

（5）  Y. Liu, N. Li, M. Arul Kumar. S. Pathak, J. Wang, R.J. McCabe, N.A. Mara, C.N. Tomé. “Experimental quantifying critical stresses associated with basal slip and twinning in magnesium using micro-pillars” Acta Materialia, 135 (2017) 411-421

（6）  Y. Liu, N. Li, S. Shao, J. Wang, R.J. McCabe, Y. Jiang, C.N. Tomé, “Characterizing the boundary lateral to the shear direction of deformation twins in magnesium”, Nature Communications 7 (2016) 11577

（7）  Y. Liu, I. Karaman, H. Wang, X. Zhang, “Two types of martensitic phase transformations in magnetic shape memory alloys by in-situ nanoindentation studies“ Advanced Materials, 26 (2014), 3893-3898

（8）  D. Bufford, Y. Liu, J. Wang, H. Wang, and X. Zhang, ”In situ nanoindentation study on plasticity and work hardening in aluminum with incoherent twin boundaries“ Nature Communications, 5, (2014) 4864

（9）  Y. Chen, K.Y. Yu, Y. Liu, S. Shao, H. Wang, M.A. Kirk, J. Wang, X. Zhang “Damage-tolerant nanotwinned metals with nanovoids under radiation environments” Nature Communications, 6 (2015) 7036

（10） Y. Liu, J. Jian, J. H. Lee, C. Wang, Q.P. Cao, C. Gutierrez, H. Wang, J. Z. Jiang, X. Zhang, ”Repetitive ultra-low stress induced nanocrystallization in amorphous Cu-Zr-Al alloy evidenced by in situ nanoindentation“ Materials Research Letters, 2 (2014) 209-216

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