Abstract
The mechanical behavior of materials can be modeled and evaluated across multiple scales that encompass: atomic and molecular rearrangements to create incipient defect nuclei; combination or growth of such nuclei to form micro-scale and subsequently macro-scale defects; and finally development of critical flaw sizes that result in final failure of engineering structures. Through an understanding of the mechanisms governing these processes, which depend on the loading conditions and the specific materials, new or modified materials systems designs can be integrated with advanced structural concepts to advance our energy, civil, transportation and healthcare infrastructures, among others. Subra Suresh's research includes development of novel experimental techniques and the discovery of new mechanistic processes that are broadly applicable to essentially every major class of natural and synthetic materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, biomolecules and biological cells. Beginning in the 1970s, he elucidated mechanisms of near-threshold fatigue crack growth in steels and aluminum alloys, contributing to improved alloy design for nuclear pressure vessels, fossil plants, offshore structures and aircraft. Subsequent work identified mechanisms for toughening brittle ceramics against fatigue crack growth under cyclic compressive loads. Turning to the microscale and the study of thin films, he developed new methods for extracting elastoplastic and functional properties of materials from small-volume contact probing. This led to new theories, computation and experiments on material and surface design through controlled gradients in composition and properties, and applications to coatings. At the nanoscale, he experimentally discovered nanocrystallization of bulk amorphous alloys during nanoindentation, and also showed how nanoscale twins could optimize the strength and ductility of fine grained metals. Most recently, he is noted for demonstrating the effects of disease-induced changes to human red blood cell deformability and biorheology, and for linking these changes to human diseases such as malaria.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2621-2626 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journal of the Franklin Institute |
| Volume | 352 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2015 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Control and Systems Engineering
- Signal Processing
- Computer Networks and Communications
- Applied Mathematics
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2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering presented to Subra Suresh. / Todd, Judith A.; Copley, Stephen M.
In: Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 352, No. 7, 01.07.2015, p. 2621-2626.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - 2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering presented to Subra Suresh
AU - Todd, Judith A.
AU - Copley, Stephen M.
N1 - Funding Information: The importance of the mechanical behavior of materials is well documented throughout the archaeological record as humans transitioned from the use of stone tools and flints in the Paleolithic era, polished stone tools in the Neolithic, copper artifacts in the Chalcolithic, bronze tools (copper alloyed with tin) in the Bronze Age, iron and early steel products in the Iron Age, and finally to the wealth of complex metal alloys and materials, (including ceramics, polymers, semiconductors and composites), that we use today. While the first copper metal tools overcame the inherently brittle nature of ceramic stone tools, they were much lower in strength. Increases in strength were achieved during the Bronze Age through smelting copper ores containing arsenic to produce silver-colored arsenical copper alloys, and subsequently by deliberate alloying with tin to produce bronze tools— the best of which were comparable in strength to early iron implements. It was not until smiths learned how to control the carbon content of the iron that high strength steels could be produced. Mass production of steel implements was made possible during the Industrial Revolution by the use of coke rather than charcoal to make pig iron (Abraham Derby ~1709), the puddling process to control the carbon content (Henry Cort, 1784), and the production of mild steel by the Bessemer blast furnace process (1858). The basic oxygen steelmaking process, introduced in the 1950s, and the electric arc furnace account for the majority of steel produced today. As steel became readily available, it was widely adopted for transportation, railroads, bridges, ships, pressure vessels and other engineering structures. Inevitably, some of these structures failed under static, dynamic and/or cyclic loading conditions—failures that may still occur today. Notable examples included the Tay Bridge disaster (Dundee, Scotland, 1879), the sinking of the Titanic (1912), the Boston Molasses Tank collapse (Massachusetts, USA, 1919), and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge failure (Tacoma, Washington, USA, 1940). From the mid-1800s, railway axle and wheel failures led to a body of research on cyclic loading failures—known today as fatigue failures. By the 1900s, it was known that the origin of fatigue failures could be attributed to the presence of microscopic cracks. When a structure made of steel, which was known to be a ductile (plastically deformable) metal, failed in a catastrophic, brittle manner, both the design of the structure and the internal condition of the steel came under scrutiny. These enquiries formed the basis for understanding the relationships among a material׳s microstructure (internal structure) and its physical properties. Such structure–properties–materials processing relationships provide a foundation for the field that today is known as Materials Science and Engineering. The field of Fracture Mechanics has its origins in World War I, when aeronautical engineer, A. Griffith, showed that glass fibers failed well below their theoretical strength. He attributed such failures to the presence of flaws and showed, by introducing artificial surface cracks, that the product of the fracture stress and the square root of the flaw length was a constant, which was related to the fracture surface energy. However, it remained until World War II before Irwin׳s group at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory recognized and quantified the contribution of plasticity at crack tips to the fracture of ductile metals. This discovery catalyzed new research on linear-elastic, elastic–plastic and fully plastic fracture mechanics and fatigue, emphasizing the role of crack tip properties and microstructures in determining the paths a crack may follow until a critical size is reached and failure occurs. In the 1970s, Elber was the first to show how the plastic deformation left in the wake of a propagating crack could provide a wedging effect that retarded the propagation of a growing fatigue crack, introducing the new concept of “crack closure”. Here, Suresh made his first notable contributions. He discovered a variety of novel mechanisms for fatigue crack closure, especially near the region where the crack is just beginning to propagate, known as the fatigue threshold—a region where crack growth may be as low as one lattice spacing per cycle. Suresh quantified the role of a crack׳s rough surface and the contact mechanisms occurring in the fatigue crack wake in a new model for roughness-induced crack closure. He developed and extended to three dimensions a quantitative model for crack deflection that accounted for tilt and twist in the crack path. He also showed how overloads and the accompanying plastic deformation could cause crack retardation. His papers had very important implications for the design of fatigue-resistant materials and components. If the microstructure of a material at the crack tip could be designed to create a tortuous crack path, rather than a smooth, flat crack path, then the growth of fatigue cracks, whether long or short, could be retarded. He demonstrated that his model had practical application to pressure vessel steels, offshore structures and aluminum alloys. His research on microstructural control in aluminum–lithium alloys had a major impact on the development of commercial aircraft materials. When he extended this work to brittle ceramics and ceramic composite materials, he showed how crack branching could create a diffuse microcrack zone ahead of a crack in an alumina–33 vol% silicon carbide whisker (Al 2 O 3 –33v/o SiC) composite, subjected to a zero-tension fatigue cycle at 1500 ° C, significantly increasing the fatigue life. Here, debonding along the whisker–matrix interface was identified as the rate controlling mechanism. During the 1980s, Suresh made another important experimental discovery. At that time, no-one believed that cracks could grow transversely to fully compressive cyclic loads in brittle ceramic materials. Suresh provided the first demonstration that fatigue cracks could grow under cyclic compressive loads, and rationalized the mechanisms and industrial applications. His theoretical reasoning for the nucleation and growth of fatigue cracks in ceramics and ceramic composites was applied to Al 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 –SiC composites, tungsten carbide–cobalt (WC–Co) cermets, and cement mortar. Suresh׳s next body of work emphasized mechanical behavior at the microscale by studying the role of stress, defect formation and surface evolution in thin films. Micro- and nanoscale thin films are found in a wide range of applications including microelectronic devices and packages, semiconductor and magnetic storage devices, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), knee and hip implants, gas turbine engines, and in surface coatings that enhance the biological, electrical, environmental, magnetic, mechanical, optical, thermal, or tribological performance of a substrate. Such films may comprise single or multiple layers. With the advent of nanomechanical probes that could measure forces at fractions of a picoNewton and displacements at nanometer scales, Suresh and his group developed new methods for extracting elastoplastic and functional properties of materials from small-volume contact probing. Applying their patented, depth-sensing indentation technique to a series of samples, each prepared with one additional layer, they determined Young׳s modulus as a function of depth in multilayer samples. Curvature measurements as a function of temperature resulted in depth profiles of the coefficient of thermal expansion and residual stress in the films. Suresh׳s research showed how internal stresses could develop in multilayer films to a magnitude that could cause mechanical deformation, damage or failure. He provided a mechanistic rationale for strengthening films by interface toughening and prevention of delamination at layer boundaries. Novel surface film properties could also be designed by tailoring the compositions, mechanical and physical properties of the respective film layers and their interfaces. This understanding led to new theories, computation, experiments, and surface designs through controlled gradients in composition and properties, leading to a new class of GPa to a fully dense silicon nitride substrate with GPa, eliminating the formation of Hertzian cone cracks during indentation of this FGM material; and (b) the suppression of microcracking at interfaces in elastically-graded laminated carbon fiber, resin matrix composites, when the fiber orientation was gradually changed from 0 functionally graded materials ( FGM ). Examples included: (a) the development of a contact-damage-resistant, elastically-graded layer by transitioning from a surface layer of SiAlYON glass with Young׳s Modulus ( E ) of 110 E =310 o to 90 o in 2 o increments. Extending his research to the nanoscale and to glassy metal alloys, Suresh׳s next experimental discovery showed that nanocrystallization could occur in a bulk amorphous Zr–17.9Cu–14.6Ni–10Al–5Ti alloy during room temperature nanoindentation to a maximum load of 60 mN and depth of ~720 nm. Nanocrystalline particles (Zr nm diameter) were formed at the indents and in the shear bands due to increased atomic mobility during plastic flow. This research provided the first example of nanocrystallization due to deformation-induced enhancement of diffusivity, by up to four orders of magnitude, in a glassy material at a temperature well below its glass transition temperature. 2 Ni, 10–40 A second important example of material design at the nanoscale occurred when Suresh and his group showed how the introduction of nanoscale twins could be applied to optimize the strength and ductility of fine grained metals. Nano-twinned copper, with a crystal size less than 100 nm, shows ultra-high strength and high ductility, plus increased strain-rate sensitivity. The high ductility of nanotwinned copper was attributed to the hardening of the twin boundaries as they gradually lost coherency during plastic deformation. This research discovered how a material׳s strength and ductility may be optimized at the nanoscale through interfacial engineering, i.e. by the controlled introduction of coherent internal interfaces. Suresh׳s most recent research is perhaps his most exciting because of its linkages among mechanics, biological cells and the human disease, malaria. When a mosquito infects a healthy red blood cell with a parasite, there are four stages in the progression of malaria. During the first stage or ring stage, a vacuole is formed around the parasite, the red blood cell retains its bioconcave shape and circulates freely, retaining the ability of an 8 µm diameter cell to stretch and narrow sufficiently to pass through 3 µm diameter capillaries. In the second, trophozoite phase, the parasite starts to grow and multiply. By the end of the trophozoite and beginning of the Schizont phase, the red blood cell contains multiple, large parasites, and becomes rigid and very viscous, with a stiffness that increases acutely with temperature on a scale of minutes. The red blood cell can no longer pass through the narrow capillary, becomes irregular and is adhesive to other cells. Finally, the rigid cell ruptures and releases its parasites to infect multiple additional cells, where the cycle begins again. To quantify the progression in cell mechanical property changes, Suresh and his group conducted a series of elegant experiments. They pioneered the use of large-force, optical tweezer deformation of human red blood cells, reaching a maximum stretching force of 400 pN (an order of magnitude higher than that previously achieved with laser tweezers), and measured large strains in healthy cells. Very low strains were measured in the Schizont stage. The large deformation response was determined using several constitutive models, and the characteristic relaxation time following large deformation was estimated using a viscoelastic model. From these data, a three-dimensional model and simulations of cell stretching were developed, accounting for the cell׳s bioconcave shape, the volume preserving fluid, cytosol, in the cell interior, and realistic contact conditions for the beads in the optical tweezers. These studies overcame prior assumptions of a spherical model being adequate for small deformations, and also showed why literature values of 4–10 µN/m for the membrane shear modulus should be considered low as they were derived primarily from micropipette aspiration experiments which have very difference stress state and boundary conditions. Three-dimensional refractive index and membrane fluctuations of the red blood cell were determined by tomographic phase microscopy and diffraction phase microscopy for each stage of the disease. As a result, this entire body of research provided the first experimental demonstration of the effects of a single protein (the RESA gene) on the modulation of the mechanical properties of malaria-parasite-invaded human red blood cells. It showed how biochemical changes in the cell can influence mechanical response, adhesion, motility and disease states. Suresh׳s work provided the first complete demonstration of the effects of disease-induced changes to human red blood cell deformability and biorheology through a variety of independent experimental techniques and multi-scale computational probes. Extensions of his research are currently exploring the links among mechanical behavior and disease processes in other areas, such as pancreatic and breast cancer metastasis. Suresh׳s studies had a global impact in fostering new research across the interfaces of mechanics, materials, life sciences and medicine. Scholars from around the world came together to form a Global Enterprise for MicroMechanics and Molecular Medicine (GEM 4 ), where they could share expertise from their respective disciplines. Suresh served as the Founding Director of GEM 4 in 2005. Subra Suresh was born in Mumbai, India in 1956. The first member of his immediate family to receive a university degree, he graduated with a B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering, First Class with Distinction, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in May 1977. He received his M.S. degree from Iowa State University, in 1979, and his Sc.D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in 1981, both in Mechanical Engineering. Following a Postdoctoral Fellowship at U. C. Berkeley, Suresh accepted his first faculty position at Brown University in 1983. A decade later he moved to MIT, where he was appointed R. P. Simmons Professor, in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (1993–2002), Professor of Mechanical Engineering (1994), Director of the MIT-Harvard Program on Modeling of Materials (1994–1998), Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (2000–2006), Ford Professor of Engineering (2002–2009), Professor of the Biological Engineering Division (2003), Affiliated Faculty of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (2004), and Dean of Engineering (2007–2010). In 2010, Suresh was chosen by President Obama to be the Director of the National Science Foundation, a position he held until 2013, when he was appointed President of Carnegie Mellon University. Suresh׳s honors include membership of 10 science and/or engineering academies: the U.S. National Academy of Engineering; U.S. National Academy of Sciences; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering; Honorary member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences; German National Academy of Sciences; Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences; Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) in Trieste, Italy; Indian National Academy of Engineering; and Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore). He is a recipient of seven honorary doctorate degrees from universities in the United States, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, and India. Suresh has been elected a fellow or honorary fellow by all major materials societies in the United States and India, including the Materials Research Society, ASM International; The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society; the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; the American Ceramic Society; the Indian Institute of Metals; and the Materials Research Society of India. Citation : For outstanding experimental and theoretical contributions to the measurement and analysis of the mechanical behavior of materials across multi-scales, including their deformation, fatigue and fracture, and for his research linking the mechanics of biological cells to human disease. 2 Publisher Copyright: © 2015 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - The mechanical behavior of materials can be modeled and evaluated across multiple scales that encompass: atomic and molecular rearrangements to create incipient defect nuclei; combination or growth of such nuclei to form micro-scale and subsequently macro-scale defects; and finally development of critical flaw sizes that result in final failure of engineering structures. Through an understanding of the mechanisms governing these processes, which depend on the loading conditions and the specific materials, new or modified materials systems designs can be integrated with advanced structural concepts to advance our energy, civil, transportation and healthcare infrastructures, among others. Subra Suresh's research includes development of novel experimental techniques and the discovery of new mechanistic processes that are broadly applicable to essentially every major class of natural and synthetic materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, biomolecules and biological cells. Beginning in the 1970s, he elucidated mechanisms of near-threshold fatigue crack growth in steels and aluminum alloys, contributing to improved alloy design for nuclear pressure vessels, fossil plants, offshore structures and aircraft. Subsequent work identified mechanisms for toughening brittle ceramics against fatigue crack growth under cyclic compressive loads. Turning to the microscale and the study of thin films, he developed new methods for extracting elastoplastic and functional properties of materials from small-volume contact probing. This led to new theories, computation and experiments on material and surface design through controlled gradients in composition and properties, and applications to coatings. At the nanoscale, he experimentally discovered nanocrystallization of bulk amorphous alloys during nanoindentation, and also showed how nanoscale twins could optimize the strength and ductility of fine grained metals. Most recently, he is noted for demonstrating the effects of disease-induced changes to human red blood cell deformability and biorheology, and for linking these changes to human diseases such as malaria.
AB - The mechanical behavior of materials can be modeled and evaluated across multiple scales that encompass: atomic and molecular rearrangements to create incipient defect nuclei; combination or growth of such nuclei to form micro-scale and subsequently macro-scale defects; and finally development of critical flaw sizes that result in final failure of engineering structures. Through an understanding of the mechanisms governing these processes, which depend on the loading conditions and the specific materials, new or modified materials systems designs can be integrated with advanced structural concepts to advance our energy, civil, transportation and healthcare infrastructures, among others. Subra Suresh's research includes development of novel experimental techniques and the discovery of new mechanistic processes that are broadly applicable to essentially every major class of natural and synthetic materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, biomolecules and biological cells. Beginning in the 1970s, he elucidated mechanisms of near-threshold fatigue crack growth in steels and aluminum alloys, contributing to improved alloy design for nuclear pressure vessels, fossil plants, offshore structures and aircraft. Subsequent work identified mechanisms for toughening brittle ceramics against fatigue crack growth under cyclic compressive loads. Turning to the microscale and the study of thin films, he developed new methods for extracting elastoplastic and functional properties of materials from small-volume contact probing. This led to new theories, computation and experiments on material and surface design through controlled gradients in composition and properties, and applications to coatings. At the nanoscale, he experimentally discovered nanocrystallization of bulk amorphous alloys during nanoindentation, and also showed how nanoscale twins could optimize the strength and ductility of fine grained metals. Most recently, he is noted for demonstrating the effects of disease-induced changes to human red blood cell deformability and biorheology, and for linking these changes to human diseases such as malaria.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jfranklin.2015.03.005
DO - 10.1016/j.jfranklin.2015.03.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84937976430
VL - 352
SP - 2621
EP - 2626
JO - Journal of the Franklin Institute
JF - Journal of the Franklin Institute
SN - 0016-0032
IS - 7
ER -