Terence G. Langdon

Professor

Departments of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Earth Sciences

University of Southern California

Address:

3650 McClintock Avenue, OHE 430

Los Angeles, CA 90089-1453

Room: OHE 430G

Phone: (213) 740-0491

Fax: (213) 740-8071

E-mail: langdon@usc.edu

Research Areas:

Mechanical properties of metals and ceramics, creep, superplasticity, ultrafine-grained materials, processing using severe plastic deformation.

Education

Professor Langdon obtained a B.Sc. degree in Physics from the University of Bristol in 1961 and a Ph.D. degree in Physical Metallurgy from Imperial College, University of London, in 1965. He was awarded a D.Sc. degree in Physics by the University of Bristol in 1980 for his published research on the mechanical properties of metals and ceramics. Professor Langdon is on the editorial boards of several journals in materials science and he is an elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Materials, the American Ceramic Society and ASM International. He has also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Melbourne (Australia), the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, the University of Ancona (Italy), the Danish Technical University and Kyushu University (Japan) and as Visiting Senior Fellow at the International Center for Advanced Studies (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) and Visiting Scientist at the Risų National Laboratory (Denmark).

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS AND CERAMICS: PROCESSING USING SEVERE PLASTIC DEFORMATION

OBJECTIVES:

Research is conducted to determine the mechanical properties of a wide range of metals and ceramics at elevated temperatures. This program is designed to integrate experimental data with the development of theoretical interpretations based on mechanistic models at the atomic level.

The current emphasis is on three separate areas:

The processing of metals, metallic alloys and metal matrix composites using severe plastic deformation through the procedure of Equal-Channel Angular Pressing. This process produces materials with ultrafine-grain sizes and these materials have unique properties including high strength at ambient temperatures and a potential for superplastic forming at elevated temperatures.
Research is in progress to determine the mechanical characteristics of superplastic deformation in metals and ceramics. Special interest includes the role of interphase and intercrystalline sliding, the macroscopic factors influencing the elongation to failure and the significance of grain boundary impurities in ceramic superplasticity.
A unified approach has been developed for high temperature creep which combines mechanical characteristics with microstructural observations. This approach is now being refined for application to metal-matrix composites.

FACILITIES:

The Mechanical Properties Laboratory is equipped with a wide range of tensile testing machines plus several creep machines for tests in tension, compression and shear. Facilities are available for processing materials using severe plastic deformation. Optical and interferometric microscopes are available in the Laboratory and transmission and scanning electron microscopes are also available.