Seminar Speaker: Elizabeth Opila, University of Virginia

“Materials Design for Extreme Environment Applications using Rare Earth Silicates and Oxides”

Abstract

The seventeen rare earths (Sc, Y, and the 15 lanthanides) provide an ideal materials playground for manipulation of phase, composition, and properties. The wide range of cation sizes results in possible oxygen coordination from six to nine, a large number of polymorphs, and many possible cation substitutions. This variety enables control of properties such as thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and thermochemical stability in steam and molten siliceous deposits, all important for high-temperature coating applications in extreme environments. In this presentation, control of properties through the design of rare earth oxides, rare earth monosilicates, rare earth disilicates, and both rare earth apatites and calcium-stabilized rare earth apatite phases are presented with corresponding experimental validation of property control.

Speaker Biography

Elizabeth Opila is the Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Center for Advanced Materials Systems at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she has been since 2010. Her current research focus includes understanding thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms for material degradation in extreme environments, the development of life prediction methodology based on an understanding of fundamental high-temperature chemical reaction mechanisms, and materials development for the protection of materials from extreme environments. Prof. Opila received her BS in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois, her MS in Materials Science from the University of California Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the Electrochemical Society and recipient of the 2021 American Ceramic Society’s Arthur L. Friedberg Award. She has over 140 publications and is a coinventor on six patents.