Fabio Di Gioacchino
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
Education: B.S. M.S.: Mechanical Engineering, The University of Bologna; Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Manchester
Office: Hill Hall 278
Email: fdigioacchino@mines.edu
ASPPRC
George S. Ansell Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401
USA
RESEARCH AREA
- High toughness steels, lamellar γ-TiAl, Ni-based superalloys
- (Micro) plasticity and damage in polycrystalline materials investigated using novel nanoscale strain and lattice rotation mapping methods (nanoDIC and EBSD)
- Small-scale testing (e.g. micropillar compression) with in-situ deformation mapping
- Crystal plasticity and phase field modeling of ductile fracture
- Contributing to the implementation of solid mechanics in FEniCS open-source finite element software
Working with Dr. Joao Quinta da Fonseca as a Ph.D. student at The University of Manchester and later with Prof. William J. Clegg as a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University, I could develop digital image correlation (DIC) based methods to map plastic strain at nanoscale spatial resolution in both conventional (i.e. macro) mechanical testing and small-scale testing. We have used these methods in conjunction with high-resolution EBSD and TEM to investigate plasticity across multiple length scales in austenitic steels, lamellar γ-TiAl, and Ni-based superalloys for aerospace applications. The work led to the discovery of a mechanisms alternative to slip transfer by which the deformation incompatibility between grains can be accommodated.
Several researchers have already adopted these experimental methods to study plasticity in other materials of technological interest, such as shape memory alloys and additively manufactured Ni-based alloys.
These experimental observations are essential in the development of physical-based models to predict the mechanical response of materials with complex microstructure and texture. This has motivated me to start looking into finite element modeling of crystal plasticity and phase-field modeling of fracture, seeking collaborations with researches expert in the field (Dr. Hojun Lim at Sandia and Dr. Garth N. Wells at Cambridge). At the Colorado School of Mines, I will be working with Dr. Kip Findley and Prof. Emeritus David Matlock to characterize plastic deformation and fracture mechanics in Charpy impact testing and study the effect of delamination susceptibility on fracture toughness in next-generation pipeline steels.
