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Dr Rimma Lapovok
Dr Rimma Lapovok is a Senior Research Fellow in the Materials Engineering Department at Monash University, and is also a leader of the International NanoSPD Group.Her particular area of expertise is in the development of an Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) with Back-Pressure machine which produces high quality ultrafine grained (UFG) materials, or nanomaterials, with superior properties. Her work involves the processing of UFG materials using Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD) methods. The results have attracted interest because of the unique physical and mechanical properties in the processed UFG materials, and also because of the advantages available. These advantages include overcoming difficulties associated with residual porosity in compacted samples, with impurities from ball milling and with the processing of large scale billets. Dr Lapovok has also observed that the grain structures of UFG materials produced by SPD methods are different from those generated by traditional deformation techniques. Dr Lapovok’s research falls into the Government’s National Research Priorities: ‘Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries’. In particular, her work on titanium and aluminium, addresses the goals of ‘breakthrough science, frontier technologies and advanced materials.’ Conventional titanium is in great demand in the medical and aerospace sectors because of its strength to density ratio, its resistance to corrosion, and its biocompatibility. It compares favourably in strength to many steels and it is 40% lighter. The strength of titanium can be further increased by up to 120% through grain refinement using SDP methods. This has two positive implications. Firstly, the performance of this novel material can be used to advantage in the design of new products and to improve the performance of existing ones. Secondly, the reduction of the strength/weight ratio makes it attractive for use in structural components, in more fuel-efficient cars and in biomedical applications like dental implants. Similarly, the use of light alloys, like aluminium, is attractive because of the weight advantage. However, its significant cost over that of steel remains a disadvantage. Dr Lapovok and her team continue to seek ways to overcome this by developing UFG alloys with high levels of mechanical properties. The ultimate aim is to promote the use of aluminium alloys in the automotive industry worldwide and in Australian export markets. Dr Lapovok collaborates with Professor Yuri Estrin in Materials Engineering at Monash. Nationally, she works with SCIRO, CAST CRS, VCAMM and Deakin University. Internationally her alliances include the US Air Force Research Laboratory, US DARPA, US Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Erlangen in Germany, TECHNION in Israel, the City University of Osaka, Japan, and the University of Metz, France. Another particular branch of her research is in damage mechanics and the development of theoretical models to predict the deformation-induced defects. “These models are crucially important for successful processing of ultrafine grain metals.” Critically, they have been applied to improve forging technology within Australian companies.
Selected PublicationsLapovok R., Timokhina I., McKenzie P.W.J., O’Donnell R. (2007) Processing and Properties of Ultrafine-Grain Aluminum Alloy 6111 Sheet, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, Lapovok R., Tomus D. & Bettles C. (2008) Shear deformation with imposed hydrostatic pressure for enhanced compaction of powder, Scripta Materialia, Lapovok R., Tomus D., Muddle B. C. (2008) Low-temperature compaction of Ti-6Al-4V powder using equal channel angular extrusion with back-pressure, Materials Science & Engineering Hasani A., Lapovok R., Tóth L. S. & Molinari A. (2007) Deformation field variations in ECAE due to back pressure, Scripta Materialia, |
