MSE Student wins 1st place at the 10th Annual Materials Bowl.
The 10th Annual Materials Bowl took place at the ASU Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, AZ on April 23, 2013. Four University of Arizona (UA) Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) teams squared off against six ASU Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering teams in what is known as The Battle for the Materials Territorial Trophy, a senior project and poster competition created in 2003 by Norm Hubel, President and Founder of Refrac Systems.
The event was sponsored by the ASM International Phoenix Chapter and 5 jury members issued from the materials community awarded three top ranked projects.
UA MSE Fangyuan “Amber” Gai won first prize and brought the Materials Territorial Trophy back to the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Amber also received a $1,000 cash award. Her research presentation and poster were based on her senior design project that she conducted under the advisement of MSE Assistant Professor, Dr. Erica Corral, that was supported by funding an NSF-CAREER award. The title of Amber’s poster was: Effect of Sintering Temperature, Cooling Rate, and Direct Current Density on Hardness and Microstructure of ZrB₂-SiC Ultra-high Temperature Composites. Fangyuan Gai, David Pham, William Pinc, Luke Walker, Erica Corral. “ZrB₂-SiC is an ultra-high temperature ceramic composite for hypersonic vehicles applications. Spark Plasma Sintering uses direct current to process ZrB₂-SiC. Influence of processing parameters on hardness and microstructure will be investigated.”
ASU teams took 2nd and 3rd place.
The event was well attended by members of academia and of the local business community. UA MSE Dr. David Poirier and Dr. Doug Loy were present to support their students.