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Ronald Gibala
EDUCATION:
B.S. (Met. Eng.), Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1960.
M.S. (Met. Eng.), University of Illinois, 1962.
Ph.D. (Met. Eng.), University of Illinois, 1964.
ALSO:
L. H. and F. E. Van Vlack Professor Emeritus
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My research is on structural materials, mainly metallic and intermetallic alloys, with an emphasis on fundamental micromechanical behavior and mechanistic understanding. It includes interest in polymers, polymer composites and functional materials through problems that focus on the importance of interfaces and interface properties. Much of the research on bcc metals and intermetallics involves investigation of ductility enhancement mechanisms using surface films and precipitated second phases. Mechanisms of deformation and fracture of thermoelastic polymers and composites and the interface structure and properties of semiconductor and metallic superlattice materials prepared by molecular beam epitaxy have been examined. Additional interests include hydrogen and other interstitial solutes in metals, structure and mechanical properties of inorganic amorphous solids and, most recently, use of first principles density functional theory to understand defect interactions in metals.