Jan Schroers Honored By Chinese Academy of Sciences

Jan Schroers, professor of mechanical engineering & materials science, has received the Lee Hsun Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Metals in Shenyang.

Schroers received the award Dec. 20. Previous awardees include Subrah Suresh, former president of Carnegie Mellon University; William Nix of Stanford University; and Huajian Gao of Brown University.

At the presentation, Schroers gave a talk on bulk metallic glass (BMG), a relatively new class of materials made from complex, multicomponent alloys that have the moldable pliability of plastics, but the strengths of metals.

In most potential applications, BMGs are limited by their fracture toughness rather than their strength. Schroers discussed recent progress in determine fracture toughness, and how it is affected by processing. He also talked about the limited commercial adaptation of BMGs so far due to the difficulties of developing BMGs with required combinations of properties and potential ways to overcome this hurdle.

Based in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Sciences is national scientific think tank and academic governing body. It has about 60,000 researchers from more than 100 institutions.