Welcome to the Integrated Computations and Experiments for Intelligent Materials Design Laboratory (ICE-4-iMD Lab)
The process of materials design has traditionally been a slow and formidable undertaking, relying heavily on the experiences of designers and a significant amount of trial-and-error spanning decades. The complexity of this challenge amplifies when the goal is to engineer a material that exhibits a specific set of properties. Altering the chemistry or microstructure of a material in a haphazard manner to enhance one property often results in the unintended deterioration of others. Furthermore, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the chemistry and microstructure of a material are profoundly influenced by the chosen material processing route.
Our research group is dedicated to addressing these challenges by pioneering advanced computational and experimental techniques, complemented by the power of artificial intelligence. Our overarching objective is to pave a more intelligent and efficient pathway for the design of materials boasting exceptional properties. We concentrate our efforts on materials of particular significance for aerospace applications, energy-related endeavors, and those intended for deployment in extreme environments. This multifaceted approach not only accelerates materials design but also contributes to the development of innovative solutions for an array of critical applications.
Research Highlights
Heterogeneity of Slip in Metals
A new method for characterizing and continuously monitoring crack initiation and failure in metals.
Innerworkings of Friction
How does the macroscopic friction response emerge from the interplay between the surface roughness and the molecular motion within adsorbed monolayers?
Additively Manufactured Alloys
Quantifying the interplay of local chemistry and plasticity in controlling microstructure formation during laser powder bed fusion of alloys.
Our Team
Jaafar A. El-Awady, Ph.D.
Professor
As the founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Integrated Computations and Experiments for Materials Design Laboratory (ICE4iMD) and the interim director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI), Professor El-Awady’s expertise lies predominantly in the realm of materials mechanics for extreme environments. His work centers on the development of advanced multi-scale simulation techniques, spanning from the atomic scale to continuum-level modeling. This comprehensive approach is employed alongside high-temperature bulk- and micro-scale experiments to predict various aspects of material behavior, including mechanical properties, underlying deformation mechanisms, damage evolution, and failure mechanisms. Furthermore, Professor El-Awady’s research group is actively engaged in integrating cutting-edge machine learning methodologies, facilitating the advancement of artificial intelligence-driven materials discovery. This multidisciplinary approach aligns with the broader mission of advancing materials science and engineering to address the challenges of extreme environments and drive innovations in material design and performance.
Ali K. Shargh, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
Ali is a postdoctoral fellow who joined El-Awady’s group in January 2023. He received a BS (2014) and MS (2017) in Mechanical Engineering from K. N. Toosi University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology, Iran, respectively, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (2023) from the University of Rochester, New York. His research interests include machine learning, multiscale modeling, and fracture mechanics. His ongoing research focuses on leveraging physics-based modeling and advanced machine learning techniques to enable the design of new refractory multi-principal element alloys with superior spall strength and high temperature mechanical properties. He also works on the predicting of the thermo-mechanical properties of ice and ice nucleation mechanisms.
Faizan Hijazi
Postdoctoral fellow
Faizan is a postdoctoral fellow who joined El-Awady’s group in January 2024. He received a BS (2015) in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, India and MS (2018) and PhD (2024) in Materials Engineering from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, India. Faizan was also honored as a Prime Minister’s Research Fellow (PMRF) from 2018 to 2023.
During his tenure at IISc, his research focused on the development of high-throughput cantilever bending, coupled with digital image correlation (DIC), as a viable creep testing method. He validated the technique on many industrial alloy systems including thermal power plant steels and Ti- alloys.
Faizan’s ongoing research focuses on in-situ SEM laser interferometry-based system for understanding real time micro-plasticity in additively manufactured NAB (Nickel Aluminum Bronze) alloys.
Jing Luo
Ph.D. Student
Jing is a PhD student who joined the El-Awady’s group in Fall 2020. She received her Master degree (2020) in Solid Mechanics and Bachelor degrees (2017) in Engineering Mechanics and Applied Mathematics from Dalian University of Technology. Her research is focused on developing new theoretical models for defect interactions in materials as well as for predicting the mechanical properties of advanced alloys.
Dylan Madisetti
Ph.D. Student
Dylan, a senior student on our team, graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of South Carolina. He has had working experience at Google (Software Engineer) and NASA Langley (Intern) for machine learning in language models and defect detection in composites, respectively. Initially under the NSF GRFP and subsequently the APL Fellowship, his work has focused on utilizing machine learning to extract microstructural details from X-Ray diffraction characterization, using simulations of dislocations and X-Ray diffraction. Dylan specializes in distributed systems, machine learning, and physical modeling, with an interest in additively manufactured austenitic steels, making him a strong candidate in the aerospace and machine learning sectors.
Ruidong Mei
Ph.D. Student
Ruidong is a PhD student who joined the El-Awady’s group in Fall 2023. He received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sichuan University in 2023. His research will focus on predicting the plastic behaviors of advanced alloys through computational techniques.
Mostafa Omar
Ph.D. Student
Mostafa is pursuing his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. He joined El-Awady’s ground in August 2018 after majoring in Mechanical Engineering in which he received his BS and MS from Ain Shams University, Egypt. Mostafa’s research journey commenced during his MS where he worked at the Energy Materials Lab at the American University in Cairo. His research focused on manipulating the internal structure of Ti alloys through nanostructuring, morphology tuning, as well as annealing in different environments, aiming to design high-performance photocatalysts for water splitting applications. Mostafa’s current research interest is directed towards pushing the limits of the time resolution at which deformation dynamics of nickel single crystals can be investigated by integrating different characterization techniques. His PhD thesis is focused on coupling acoustic emissions and in-situ micro-testing techniques to unravel more information on the real-time deformation behavior of nickel single crystal micropillars.
Junjie Yang
Ph.D. Student
Junjie joined El-Awady’s group in Fall 2019 after he received a B.S. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Science and Technology of China. His current research interest is reconstructing internal deformation field in single-crystal metals from limited surface measurements. Junjie has expertise in Discrete Dislocation Dynamics simulations, Molecular Dynamics simulations, Machine Learning, and Inverse Problems.
Austin DiOrio
Doctor of Engineering Student
Austin DiOrio is a Doctor of Engineering Student who joined the El-Awady group in Summer 2021. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 from Johns Hopkins University. He received a Master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012 while a researcher in the Gas Turbine Laboratory. His Master’s work focused on improving the efficiency of small jet engine compressors to minimize fuel burn. Since 2012, Austin has worked at The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory where he is currently a section supervisor in the Air and Missile Defense Sector. His D.Eng. research is focused on modeling erosion damage caused by particles that are present in solid rocket motor plumes.
Ben Medina
Doctor of Engineering Student
Ben Medina is a Doctor of Engineering Student who joined the El-Awady group in Spring 2023. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech in 2016, where he served as an undergraduate researcher in the Experimental Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory. He also received his master’s in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins in 2020 with a specialization in solids/mechanics of materials. He is a full-time employee of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division where he serves as a Navy subject matter expert in underwater implosion physics. His research interests include structural response under highly dynamic plastic deformation, high pressure gradient fluid-structure interaction, and lithium-ion battery thermal runaway modeling and simulation. His current research focuses on modeling the failure of submersible vessels due to runaway failure of onboard lithium ion-batteries.
Madison Morrison
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Madison is a senior undergraduate student in the Mechanical Engineering department with a Space Science and Engineering minor and Solid Mechanics focus area. She joined the El-Awady group in Summer 2022 conducting material deformation research centered around improving, automating, and experimentally validating a new surface morphology analysis techniques. She has acquired strong computation skills in MATLAB and Python as well as technical experience in computer vision, material fabrication, mechanical testing, and SEM imaging pillars.
Latest News
October 18, 2023
Our undergraduate student Madison Morrison attends her first MS&T conference ever and presents a posted some of her work on automated surface evolution tracking for in-situ experiments. Congrats Madison on your hard work!
September 1st, 2023
We would like to welcome our newest PhD student, Ruidong Mei who finished his undergraduate studies at Sichuan University in China. Ruidong will be working on predicting the plastic behaviors of advanced alloys through computational techniques.
July 1st, 2023
Prof. El-Awady named the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute interim director.
