The research work that I have personally conducted, or which has been conducted by personnel under my direction, has largely concerned various aspects of the processing of metals and alloys. These activities can be broadly categorized into the following major achievements:

The Ring Compression Test was developed as a useful and reliable technique for studying friction and lubrication effects during bulk plastic deformation. The technique is applicable under a wide variety of test conditions including high strain rates and high temperatures, and requires only measurement of the ring dimensional changes effected by the deformation process. Comparison of ring test data with that determined in various metalworking operations has demonstrated both the applicability of ring test data to other processes and outlined the limitations of the test technique. Initially the test was quantified with regard to friction level by means of an indirect calibration technique and was later calibrated directly utilizing a mathematical analysis. This analysis allowed the refinement of the test technique to such an extent that it enabled its use to be extended, with suitable measurement of deformation loads, to the accurate determination of dynamic flow stress data under typical metalworking conditions. The ring test is now considered to be an unofficial international standard technique for studying friction effects during bulk plastic deformation.

Studies have been conducted over a number of years using the ring test to assist in the understanding of friction and lubrication effects in metal processing operations. In cold working processes particularly, the importance of lubricant entrapment mechanisms for successful lubrication has been demonstrated with special reference to the effects of various process parameters such as workpiece surface finish, deformation rate and lubricant viscosity. The development of fine surface defect structures during the production of wires by hydrostatic extrusion and by conventional wire drawing has been shown to be related to both the workpiece surface finish and the lubricant viscosity. The potential role of drawing lubrication in repairing or compounding the defect structure has been demonstrated. Studies of the high temperature friction properties of metals have indicated that, for a variety of reasons, some naturally occurring oxide scales show friction reducing tendencies on their parent metals. This has led to the the idea of utilizing "foreign" oxide coatings as high temperature lubricants. Investigations into the use of glasses as high temperature lubricants has proved that one of the important effects of such materials is to act as a thermal barrier and prevent undue chilling of the workpiece surface. The concept has been clearly developed that high temperature metalworking lubrication should be considered from a total systems standpoint and include a thermal barrier, a low shear stress substance and a means of effectively entrapping that substance at the tool/workpiece interface.

Significant advances have been made by myself and co-workers under my direction in the development of advanced electrical conductors for operation at cryogenic temperatures. These include low temperature superconductors, high temperature superconductors, and pioneering work on a new class of materials termed "hyperconductors". A novel concept was developed for producing ductile multifilamentary wires from hard, brittle, A-15 superconducting compounds such as NbC and NbCN. This essentially involved the utilization of aggregates of extremely fine "microparticles" of the compound to form filaments in a normal copper matrix. Such wires have been shown to maintain their full superconducting characteristics under relatively severe bending and stretching, and clearly indicate that the concept is readily applicable for the fabrication of strain tolerant multifilamentary conductors from established high-field superconducting compounds such as Nb Sn operating at a temperature of 4.2K. Another novel cryogenic conductor concept has been pioneered involving the use of very high purity (VHP) aluminum "hyperconductor" which has extremely low electrical resistance at 20K. Process understanding and techniques have been developed for fabricating composite conductors from VHP Al and high-strength Al alloys which exhibit low electrical loss characteristics when operated with liquid hydrogen cooling. This research development culminated with the first demonstration of a high residual resistivity ratio, engineering hyperconductor in the U.S. Such conductors are being utilized for space base application, where liquid hydrogen is used as fuel and is readily available for cooling, and were thus extremely important to the US Strategic Defense Initiatives program prior to its cancellation. These activities were recognized within the space power community as representing a major development. These accumulated process technological concepts have been applied to the problem of fabricating engineering superconductors from high temperature ceramic materials such as Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide. Major problem areas such as development of crystallographic textures were addressed and some success was achieved by fabricating wires with a critical current density of over 1,000 Amps/sq.cm. at liquid nitrogen temperature (77K). While this may not be impressive from an applications point of view, at the time it represented state-of-art current density in such wires.

For several years I acted as program manager for a multi million dollar program to develop casting technology for the direct production of thin (0.025 - 0.125 in.) low carbon steel strip. This work was conducted by a team of engineers from Westinghouse and Armco, Inc., under my direction. This program developed unique casting facilities for the conduct of the research, and the program included both experimental and theoretical investigation of the process. A thorough understanding of the effect of process variables on the planar flow casting process was developed, which is necessary for the application of control technology to the process. It was demonstrated that low carbon steel cast using this process has a metallurgical structure which allows it to be cold rolled in the as-cast condition, and that after cold rolling and annealing it possesses mechanical properties similar to conventionally produced strip of the same composition. The continued development of this process was extended by another multi-million dollar activity being led by Armco, Inc., but in which members of my research group continued to participate. The ultimate application of this technology by the domestic steel industry offers the potential for energy cost savings on the order of $650 million annually.

Over several years under my direction, a member of my research group performed research on the development of new and improved electrical contact materials for a wide range of service applications. This research was concerned both with the development of new material compositions and with an improvement in performance obtained through the application of novel processing techniques. Many of the details of this work are proprietary to Westinghouse. One impact which can be mentioned, however, is the process research conducted to develop process concepts for improved performance electromagnetic accelerator (railgun) rails for kinetic energy weapons. This involved the development of unique hot isostatic pressing (HIP) techniques to clad either a powder blend or a refractory metal sheet to form the high velocity electrical contact surface on the large current carrying copper rails. The latter form of rail was finally chosen as the preferred configuration for successful demonstration firings which achieved a milestone projectile velocity of 6 km/sec.

Most recently, at the University of Kentucky, I have been developing a research group to investigate plasma-jet forming as a flexible sheet metal forming process. A non transferred arc plasma torch is being used as a controllable heat source to produce internal stress in sheet metals, causing plastic deformation without the necessity of hard tooling. This method has potential for the rapid prototyping of sheet metal parts by reducing development costs and lead times. A robotic system has been developed to perform simple linear bends in several different metal alloys. In order to develop a controllable process and improve the forming accuracy, the effects of various process parameters on the obtained shape changes and on the resulting structure and properties are being studied. The goal is to understand the roles of the forming parameters and their inter-relationship in optimizing the forming procedure - a high forming speed without damage to the material structure or properties. A forming prediction model has been established to correlate the forming speed to the process parameters and the existing angle of the part.

A second research activity at the University of Kentucky is in the area of materials joining process technologies. I have been supporting the principal investigators of several research programs in welding and brazing technologies by the application of my metallurgical and process backgrounds to the advancement of these programs and technologies.

Other research activities conducted over an extended period of time, the results of which have been published in the technical literature, are included in a separate complete list of publications. These activities group themselves into a general category which can best be described as research conducted to further the fundamental understanding of controlling the microstructure and properties of metals and alloys by control of the process parameters of various manufacturing metalworking operations.