Yip-Wah Chung
Professor of Materials
Science and Engineering
Professor of Mechanical
Engineering
Director, NSF Summer
Institute on Nanomechanics, Nanomaterials,
and
Micro/Nanomanufacturing
Email: ywchung@northwestern.edu
Our group is primarily
involved in research studies related to surface science,
tribology and thin
films. Active research programs
include:
q
Nanostructured
coatings with enhanced infra-red reflectivity. When
applied to vehicles and aircraft, these coatings reflect infra-red light
from
the solar radiation, thus reducing heat load. This in turn reduces energy
consumption and improves overall efficiency.
q
Lubricious and hard
coatings. We are exploring
ways to synthesize
coatings that are both lubricious and hard. This is achieved by combining
lubricious and hard components, either in the form of nanocomposites or
nanolayers.
q
Design and
development of ultrahigh strength steels with high toughness.
This research is done in collaboration with Profs. Fine and
Vaynman.
Most ultrahigh
strength steels are based on the formation of martensite. In
our research, we are
exploring the use of semi-coherent copper-based
nanoscale
precipitates for obtaining the desired strength without losing
toughness. Our goal is to develop steels with
yield strength up to 2000
MPa and ductility up
to 20%.
q
High-temperature
nanotribology. At high
temperatures, normal oils do not
work as lubricants.
Instead, we propose to study the use of low melting
point metals as lubricants.
We have unique testing and measurement
instruments that allow us to perform high-temperature friction and
nanoindentation studies up to 1000 K. This work is done in collaboration
with Prof. Jane Wang in mechanical engineering.
Other pending programs
include the following:
q
The generation of
physically and chemically modified surfaces for
enhanced hydro- and ice-phobicity
q
Extreme-condition
tribology (lubrication without hydrocarbon fluids)
q
Design of hard coatings
with high fracture toughness
q
Exploring
high-performance silicon-based lubricants
Awards
Fellow, Society of
Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (2005)
Innovative Research Award,
ASME Tribology Division (2002)
Fellow, American Vacuum
Society (2000)
Advisory Professor, Fudan
University, China (1999)
National Storage Industry
Consortium Technical Achievement Award (1999)
Fellow, ASM International
(1998)
Visiting Fellow, Japan
Society for Promotion of Science
Ralph A. Teetor Engineering
Educator Award (1991)
ASME Tribology Division
Best Paper Award (1990)
Faculty Honor Roll (1990)
Teacher of the Year in MSE
(1986,1991)
Professional Activities
Member, University Grants
Committee (2008-)
Program Director, Surface
Engineering and Materials Design, Civil and
Mechanical Systems Division, Directorate for Engineering,
National
Science Foundation (2003-5)
Chair, AVS Advanced
Surface Engineering Division (2004)
Guest Editor, MRS Bulletin
(March 2003)
American Vacuum Society
Board of Directors (1/98 - 12/99)
Associate Editor, ASME
Journal of Tribology (1997-2003)
Editorial Board, Tribology
Letters
AVS Prairie Chapter
Executive Committee
Hong Kong Research Grants
Council (1993-2003)
Department Chair (1992-98)
Director, NSF/IUCRC Center
for Engineering Tribology (1987-1992)
Recent Publications
(with Yanfeng Cheng and Shu-You Li), “Boron carbide and boron
carbonitride
thin films as protective coatings in ultra-high density hard disk
drives”, Surface
and Coatings Technology 200, 4072-4077 (2006)
(with Christina Freyman and
Yanfeng Chen), “Synthesis of carbon films with
ultralow friction in dry and
humid Air”, Surface and Coatings Technology 201,
164-167 (2006)
(with Christina Freyman, Bo
Zhao and Yanfeng Chen), “Water adsorption and
desorption on ultra-low
friction sulfur-doped hydrogenated carbon films”, Journal
of Physics Condensed Matter
18, S1721-1726 (2006)
(with D. J. Li), “Growth responses of ultrathin CNx overcoats to process
parameters”, Thin Solid Films 506/507, 207-211 (2006)
(with Yanfeng Chen and Hongmei Wen”, “Moisture-induced embrittlement
mechanism for (Ni,Fe)Ti alloys”, Intermetallics 15, 288-293 (2007)
(with Christina Freyman and
Bo Zhao), “Suppression of moisture sensitivity of
friction in carbon-based
coatings”, Superlubricity, ed. A. Erdemir and J. M. Martin
(Oxford, UK, Elsevier 2007),
295-310
(with F. M. Borodich and L. M. Keer), “Environmental and surface
chemical
effects on tribological properties of carbon-based coatings”, Tribology
of
Diamond-Like Carbon Films: Fundamentals and Applications”, p. 282 – 290,
ed.
C. Donnet and A. Erdemir, 2008 (Springer)
(with Christina Freyman), “Synthesis and characterization of
hardness-enhanced
multilayer oxide films for high-temperature applications”, Surface and
Coatings
Technology 202, 4702-4708 (2008).
Textbooks Published
“Practical Guide to
Surface Science and Spectroscopy”, Academic Press (2001)
“Introduction
to Materials Science and Engineering”, CRC Press/ Taylor and Francis Group
(2006)
Last updated: January
2009